For over one hundred and fifty years G.W.F. Hegel s ghost has haunted theoretical understanding and practice. His opponents first, and later his defenders, have equally defined their programs against and with his. In this way Hegel s political thought has both situated and displaced modern political theorizing.

This book takes the reception of Hegel s political thought as a lens through which contemporary methodological and ideological prerogatives are exposed. It traces the nineteenth century origins of the positivist revolt against Hegel s legacy forward to political science s turn...