The Cunning of Unreason: Making Sense of Politics - Brossura

Dunn, John

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0002556472 ISBN 13: 9780002556477

Casa editrice: HarperCollins, 2000

Riassunto

Britain’s greatest political historian and scientist shows HOW politics works. Wittily and clearly written, this unique book is the best introduction to the art and the science of politics for the student, the novice and the simply bemused.

Politics is inevitably disappointing. Why is this so?

Politics is important and obscure and difficult? Must it be so?

How can anyone even begin to understand politics?

In fact, why bother to try to understand it at all?

This, possibly the first genuinely, unblinkingly honest book about politics, endeavours to answer all these questions. The Cunning of Unreason shirks nothing, no aspect of political thought or theory. It explains first in the abstract (what is politics? etc.) and then makes this concrete, tying the ideas into a fascinating re-interpretation of Thatcher’s Britain. Dunn shows how this lasted and then fell apart, in all its complexity. The focus then becomes more general, spanning ideas of state, judgment, corruption, democracy and its failings, economics, markets, etc, etc. The final part is one of consolidation: what is political science; what are the implications of our and the world’s current political situation and how can we use this knowledge to choose better?

Very much part of the tradition of great political writing, of Aristotle, Machiavelli and Hobbes, The Cunning of Unreason offers a deeply penetrating study of the science and reality of all political structures.

Su questo libro

L'autore:

JOHN DUNN has been Professor of Political Theory at the University of Cambridge since 1987, and a Fellow of Kings College, Cambridge since 1966. Among his previous publications are the volume on Locke in the OUP Past Masters series, the classic study Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future (reissued by Canto, 1994) and Democracy: the Unfinished Journey (OUP, 1992).

Dalla quarta di copertina:

Politics today is as baffling as ever, raiding far more questions than it answer. The luminaries of political thought – Aristotle to Machiavelli, Marx to Weber – shine through history like beacons but what do they mean to politics today? Has its nature changed profoundly? Have we ever even begun to truly understand it? What does politics mean and how does it work? John Dunn, one of Britain's most eminent and imaginative political thinkers, has written a unique book, a guide through this difficult terrain. Clearly and wittily written, 'The Cunning of Unreason' explains why politics is important, yet almost inevitably disappointing and, vitally, how we can comprehend it.

Covering politics' every aspect, Dunn explains political ideas first in the abstract and then ties them into a fascinating portrait (and reinterpretation) of Thatcher's Britain. He shows why this peculiar and very fraught experiment lasted for so long and then fell apart so thoroughly, leaving intact most of the problems it strove to remedy. He shows how the same forces which made Mrs Thatcher possible and her failure all but inevitable play out in the politics of every country in the world today; but why current political science can offer so little support to the economic and military elites throughout the world, struggling to maintain their political power. Spanning ideas of state, judgement, corruption, democracy and its failings, economics and markets, 'The Cunning of Unreason' asks what the implications of our world's current political situation really are and how we can use this knowledge to choose better.

Very much in the tradition of great western political writing, 'The Cunning of Unreason' offers a deeply penetrating study of the reality of all political structures today. Every politician, spin-doctor and civil servant needs this book while the student, the novice and the simply bemused will be enlightened, entertained and informed, agreeing with de Gaulle that politics is far too serious a matter to be left to politicians. Ignorance is no longer an excuse.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: HarperCollins
• Data di pubblicazione: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0002556472
• ISBN 13: 9780002556477
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 416