Almost on the eve of the sixteenth-century Reformation, the long-running debate over the respective authority of popes and councils in the Catholic Church was vigorously resumed. This book offers the first English translation of four major contributions to that debate. These complex arguments are fundamental for any society under government, whether church or state, and even on the threshold of the twenty-first century the concerns that underlie and animate these scholastic disputations continue to retain their force.

Thoreau's political writing is intensely personal and direct. Both his life and work focus uncompromisingly on the question "how should I live?." This edition of Thoreau's political essays includes "Civil Disobedience," selections from Walden, and the anti-slavery addresses. In her introduction, Nancy L. Rosenblum places the essays in the context of Thoreau's life of self-examination, and analyzes the themes of citizenship and resistance that have made Thoreau an enduring influence in political philosophy and practice.

This book brings together a comprehensive collection of the writings of one of the greatest philosophers in the Western tradition. Along with five of John Locke's major essays, seventy shorter essays are included that stand outside the canonical works that Locke published during his lifetime. For the first time students will be able to fully explore the evolution of Locke's ideas concerning the philosophical foundations of morality and sociability, the boundary of church and state, the shaping of constitutions, and the conduct of government and public policy.

In this edition of Beccaria's On Crimes and Punishments and other writings, Richard Bellamy draws on recent Italian scholarship to show how Beccaria wove together the various political languages of the Enlightenment into a political philosophy that combines republican, contractarian, romantic and liberal as well as utilitarian themes. This edition also includes a number of pieces from Beccaria's writings on political economy and the history of civilization that were not previously available in English.

This is a completely new translation of one of the great works of Western political thought. In addition to Tom Griffith's vivid, dignified and accurate rendition of Plato's text, this edition is suitable for students at all levels. It contains an introduction that assesses the cultural background to the Republic, its place within political philosophy, and its general argument; succinct notes in the text; an analytical summary of content; a full glossary of proper names; a chronology of important events; and a guide to further reading.

Lawson's Politica, a seventeenth-century treatise on politics in church and state.

Georges Sorel's Reflections on Violence (1908) remains a controversial text to this day. It unashamedly advocates the use of violence as a means of putting an end to the corrupt politics of bourgeois democracy and of bringing down capitalism. It is both dangerous and fascinating, of enduring importance and interest to all those concerned about the nature of modern politics. This new student edition of Sorel's classic text is accompanied by notes, chronology, and bibliography, as well as a concise introduction to the context and content of this work.

This is the first English translation of the most important work of political thought of the fifteenth century. The Catholic Concordance is the first major treatise to argue for consent through representative councils as a major prerequisite for legitimate law and government, and is the most learned and original work associated with the conciliar movement in the late medieval church. Cusa's arguments influenced such thinkers as Luther, Bruno and Locke, and Professor Sigmund's introduction places his work in its full historical and philosophical context.

Tonnies' Community and Civil Society (first published in 1887 as Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft) is a classic of social and political theory, exploring the tension between close-knit "communities" and an emerging global market "society." It is a response to modernity, an exercise in social, political and moral science, and an unusual commentary on the inner character of "democratic socialism." This new translation and introduction make this important work much more readily accessible to student readers, and those interested in social and political theory and the history of European ideas.

This is a major new student edition of the text described as "the first modern classic of English history." Francis Bacon's insight into human motives, his life-long experience of politics and government, and his remarkable literary skills, render this History of the Reign of King Henry VII a major work of English literature and an important document in the history of political thought. The edition also includes other relevant writings by Bacon, generous editorial footnotes explaining the historical and political issues of the period, and a substantial glossary.