Political books must reads
Items in this hypelist
Books
The Anarchical Society
Hedley Bull • 2002
The End of History and the Last Man
Francis Fukuyama • 2006
Man, the State, and War
Kenneth N Waltz • 1965
Theory of International Politics
Kenneth N. Waltz • 2010
"From Theory of International Politics . . . "National politics is the realm of authority, of administration, and of law. International politics is the realm of power, of struggle, and of accommodation. . . . States, like people, are insecure in proportion to the extent of their freedom. If freedom is wanted, insecurity must be accepted. Organizations that establish relations of authority and control may increase security as they decrease freedom. If might does not make right, whether among people or states, then some institution or agency has intervened to lift them out of nature's realm. The more influential the agency, the stronger the desire to control it becomes. In contrast, units in an anarchic order act for their own sakes and not for the sake of preserving an organization and furthering their fortunes within it. Force is used for one's own interest. In the absence of organization, people or states are free to leave one another alone. Even when they do not do so, they are better able, in the absence of the politics of the organization, to concentrate on the politics of the problem and to aim for a minimum agreement that will permit their separate existence rather than a maximum agreement for the sake of maintaining unity. If might decides, then bloody struggles over right can more easily be avoided." -- Publisher.
Authority and the Individual
Bertrand Russell • 2005
On Liberty
John Stuart Mill • 2004
Leviathan Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes • 2024
<p>"Leviathan," a seminal work by Thomas Hobbes, delves into the essence of political philosophy and the social contract. Written during a time of political upheaval, Hobbes presents a pioneering argument for a strong, centralized government as a solution to human nature's inherent brutishness. This treatise explores the dynamics between liberty and authority, and the necessity of societal structures for peace and protection. 'Leviathan' remains a cornerstone in understanding modern political theory and its impact on both historical and contemporary governance.</p><p><br></p>
The Social Contract
Jean-Jacques Rousseau • 2021
The Communist Manifesto
Karl Marx • 1992
"A spectre is haunting Europe - the spectre of Communism." So begins one of history's most important documents, a work of such magnitude that it has forever changed not only the scope of world politics, but indeed the course of human civilization. The Communist Manifesto was written in Friedrich Engels's clear, striking prose and declared the earth-shaking ideas of Karl Marx. Upon publication in 1848, it quickly became the credo of the poor and oppressed who longed for a society "in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all."<br/><br/>The Communist Manifesto contains the seeds of Marx's more comprehensive philosophy, which continues to inspire influential economic, political, social, and literary theories. But the Manifesto is most valuable as an historical document, one that led to the greatest political upheaveals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and to the establishment of the Communist governments that until recently ruled half the globe.<br/><br/>This Bantam Classic edition of The Communist Manifesto includes Marx and Engels's historic 1872 and 1882 prefaces, and Engels's notes and prefaces to the 1883 and 1888 editions.
Second Treatise of Government
John Locke • 2004
The Prince. Niccolo Machiavelli
Niccolò Machiavelli • 2023
The Open Society and its Enemies
Karl Popper • 2002
Written in political exile in New Zealand during the Second World War and published in two volumes in 1945, The Open Society and its Enemies was hailed by Bertrand Russell as a 'vigorous and profound defence of democracy'. This legendary attack on the philosophies of Plato, Hegel and Marx prophesied the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe and exposed the fatal flaws of socially engineered political systems. It remains highly readable, erudite and lucid and as essential reading today as on publication in 1945. It is available here in a special centenary single-volume edition.
Democracy in America: Alexis De Tocqueville
Alexis De Tocqueville • 2018








