Political philosophy

Political philosophy is the study of the fundamental questions about 
the state, government, politics, property, law and the enforcement of 
a legal code by authority: what they are, why they are needed, what 
makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect 
and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what 
duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may 
be legitimately overthrown - if ever.

Two key aspects are the political economy by which property rights are 
defined and access to capital is regulated, and the rules of truth and 
evidence that determine judgements in the law. Each theory of criminal 
justice is derived in part from some such view of these.

History of political philosophy

The classical period

Political philosophy most broadly concerns the nature and forms of power; 
more specifically, it involves the principles for proper governance.

As an academic discipline, political philosophy has its origins in ancient 
Greek society, when city-states were experimenting with various forms of 
political organization including monarchy, tyranny, aristocracy, oligarchy, 
and democracy. The first classic work of political philosophy is Plato's 
The Republic, which was followed by Aristotle's Politics. Roman political 
philosophy was influenced by the Stoics, and the Roman statesman Cicero 
wrote on political philosophy.

The early Christian philosophy of Augustine was by and large a rewrite of 
Plato in a Christian context. The main change that Christian thought brought 
was to moderate the Stoicism and theory of justice of the Roman world, and 
emphasize the role of the state in applying mercy as a moral example. 
Augustine's City of God is an influential work of this period that refuted 
the thesis, after the First Sack of Rome, that the Christian view could be 
realized on Earth at all - a view many Christian Romans held.


Islamic period

The rise of Islam based on both the Qur'an and the political philosophy of 
Muhammad drastically altered the power balances and perceptions of origin 
of power in the Mediterranean region. Early Muslim philosophy emphasized 
an inexorable link between science and religion, and the process of ijtihad 
to find truth - in effect all philosophy was "political" as it had real 
implications for governance. This view was challenged by the Mutazilite 
philosophers, who held a more Greek view and were supported by secular 
aristocracy who sought freedom of action independent of the mosque. By the 
medieval period, however, the Asharite view of Islam had in general 
triumphed and all philosophy was henceforth subordinated to theology - a 
situation that persisted until the rise of modern Islamic philosophy.


Medieval period

Medieval political philosophy in Europe was heavily influenced by Christian 
thinking. It had much in common with the Islamic thinking in that the Roman 
Catholics also subordinated philosophy to theology. Perhaps the most 
influential political philosopher of the medieval period was St. Thomas 
Aquinas who helped reintroduce Aristotle's works, which had been preserved 
in the interim only by the Muslims. Aquinas's use of them set the agenda for 
scholastic political philosophy, and dominated European thought for 
centuries.

The most influential work, however, was that which ended this period, that 
being Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince, 1517. It is that work, and The 
Discourses, a rigorous analysis of the classical period, from which modern 
political philosophy is largely derived.


The Enlightenment

During the Enlightenment, new theories about human psychology, the discovery 
of other societies in the Americas, and the changing needs of political 
societies (especially in the wake of the English Civil War and the French 
Revolution) led to new questions and insights by such thinkers as John 
Locke, Thomas Hobbes, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau - known by most for his 
influential theory of the social contract.

These theorists were driven by two basic questions: by what right or need 
do people form "states," and what is the best form for a "state." These large 
questions involved a conceptual distinction between "state" and "government." 
Basically, "state" refers to a set of enduring institutions through which 
power is distributed and its use justified. "Government" refers to a specific 
group of people who occupy these institutions, and exercise particular 
policies. This conceptual distinction continues to operate in political 
science, although some political scientists, philosophers, historians and 
cultural anthropologists have argued that most political action in any 
given society occurs outside of its state, and that there are societies 
that are not organized into states which nevertheless must be considered 
politically.

Political and economic relations were drastically changed by these views as 
the guild was subordinated to free trade, and Roman Catholic dominance of 
theology was increasingly challenged by Protestant churches subordinate to 
each nation-state and which preached in the "vulgar" or native language of 
each region.

In the Ottoman Empire, these reforms did not take place and these views did 
not spread until much later. Also, there was no contact with the New World 
and the advanced civilizations of the Aztec, Maya, Inca, Mohican, Delaware, 
Huron and especially the Iroquois, who gave a great boost to Christian 
thought and in many cases actually inspired some of the institutions adopted 
in the United States: for example, Benjamin Franklin was a great admirer of 
some of the methods of the Iroquois Confederacy, and much of early American 
literature emphasized the political philosophy of the natives.


Industrialization and the early modern age

The industrial revolution produced a parallel revolution in political thought. 
Urbanization and capitalism reshaped society for the better. While many 
socialists at that time attempted to argue otherwise, the lives of the poor 
were dramatically improved as capitalism and markets spread. During this same 
period, the socialist movement began to form. In the mid-19th century, Marxism 
was developed, and socialism in general gained increasing popular support, 
mostly from the urban working class. By the late 19th century, socialism and 
trade unions were established members of the political landscape. In addition, 
the various branches of anarchism and syndicalism also gained some prominence.

World War I was a watershed event in human history. The Russian Revolution 
(and similar, albeit less successful, revolutions in many other European 
countries) brought communism - and in particular the political theory of 
Leninism - on the world stage. At the same time, social democratic parties 
won elections and formed governments for the first time, often as a result 
of the introduction of universal suffrage.

In response to the sweeping social changes that occurred in the years after 
the war, ultra-reactionary ideologies such as fascism began to take shape. In 
particular, the rise of the nazis in Germany would later lead to the Second 
World War.

All political thought was deeply affected by the Great Depression, which led 
many theorists to reconsider the ideas they had previously held as axiomatic. 
In the United States, President Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. In Europe, 
both the extreme left and the extreme right gained increasing popularity.


Contemporary political philosophy

After World War II the peace movement became the dominant mode of political 
philosophy in the Western world, due largely to fear of nuclear war. Opponents 
tended to line up on either side of the arms race debate. Communism remained 
an important focus especially during the 1950s and 60s. Zionism, racism and 
colonialism were important issues that arose. In general, there was a marked 
trend towards a pragmatic approach to political issues, rather than a 
philosophical one. Much academic debate regarded one or both of two pragmatic 
topics: how (or whether) to apply utilitarianism to problems of political 
policy, or how (or whether) to apply economic models (such as rational choice 
theory) to political issues.

Some scholars date the emergence of contemporary political philosophy to 1962, 
since many important things happened in that year:

    * The Cuban Missile Crisis which brought the arms race debate to a head 
    and forced the peace movement to action which has never actually ceased;
    * Rachel Carson published her Silent Spring which signalled the beginning 
    of the modern ecology movement and environmental movement;
    * Milton Friedman published influential works that laid the foundations of 
    neoliberalism against which the above struggle to this day.

Soon after, there was a major revival of academic political philosophy as a 
result of the publication of John Rawls's A Theory of Justice in 1971. Rawls 
used a thought experiment, the original position in which representative 
parties choose principles of justice for the basic structure of society from 
behind a veil of ignorance. Rawls also offered an effective criticism of 
utilitarian approaches to questions of political justice. Robert Nozick's 
book Anarchy, State, and Utopia responded to Rawls from a libertarian 
perspective. A rich debate ensued.

Another rich debate developed around the (distinct) criticisms of liberal 
political theory made by Bernard Williams and Charles Taylor. The 
liberalism-communitarianism debate is often considered valuable for generating 
a new set of philosophical problems, rather than a profound and illuminating 
clash of perspectives.

Today some debates regarding punishment and law center on the question of 
natural law and the degree to which human constraints on action are determined 
by nature, as revealed by science in particular.

An important exception is the view of Bernard Crick that the political 
virtues are universal.