Political Theory

Political Theory - Department of Politics at Princeton University

Political theory is the study of the concepts and principles that people use to describe, explain, and evaluate political events and institutions. Traditionally, the discipline of political theory has approached this study from two different perspectives: the history of political thought, and contemporary political philosophy. Princeton ’s political theory faculty has strength in both of these areas of the discipline, and indeed a number of faculty members actively work in both.

Major areas of research bringing together clusters of Princeton political theorists include democratic theory, international political theory, and aspects of the history of political thought. Princeton ’s theorists share a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research. Graduate students routinely take seminars in the Departments of Philosophy, Classics, Religion and History, and participate in activities at the University Center for Human Values. A number of Politics faculty enjoy affiliate status in these units, and Politics extends the same status to several outside faculty with strong profiles in political theory. The theorists also work closely with empiricists in other subfields of the department.

The Program in Political Philosophy offers graduate students the chance to do interdisciplinary work. It also sponsors colloquia that bring political philosophers to Princeton every two or three weeks throughout the academic year, enabling graduate students to meet scholars from across the field.

The University Center for Human Values offers a year-long lineup of speakers on themes of interest to political theorists, sponsors graduate prize fellowships that support advanced research by graduate students, and supports a post-doctoral research program that brings several political theorists to Princeton each year for one-year visits.

View a list of members of the Princeton political theory community.

Social and Political Thought

Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies --- Department of Social Science -- Social and Political Thought

Introduction to the Program
The Programme in Social and Political Thought (SPT) is concerned with the interdisciplinary study of human community-its nature, history and foreseeable futures. It is open to students in the disciplines of Anthropology, English, History, Humanities, Political Science, Philosophy, Sociology, Women's Studies, or another approved discipline.
It is intended for those students whose breadth of focus is such that they would like to view the social and political situation of contemporary societies, both substantively and theoretically, from a plurality of social science and humanistic perspectives. The programme includes a wide range of courses in areas of Social and Political Thought such as -History of Social and Political Thought, Political Economy, The Foundations of Social and Political Theory, Literature and Art and Society.
In addition to stimulating an interest in interdisciplinary studies, the programme seeks to equip its students with the analytical and problem-solving skills required to pursue graduate studies, or to find employment in fields such as journalism, education, public service and other professions in affiliated departments and other related disciplines.



Political science - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Political science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government, and politics. 

Political Science and Activism


Political Theorists and Activists.


Machiavelli (1469-1527).
"We are much beholden to Machiavel and others, that write what men do, and not what they ought to do."

Rousseau, Jean Jacques (1712-88):
"Rousseau undertook the defence of social nudity. He called upon his world, which prided itself so much upon its elegance, to divest the body politic of all its robes. He declared that while Nature has made man happy and virtuous, it is society that renders him miserable and depraved ..."



Hobbes, Thomas (1588-1679).
Hobbes' interest in science, particularly that of Euclidian geometry, led him to conclude that it should be possible "to extend such deductive certainty to a comprehensive science of man and society." Hobbes carried out "greatest, perhaps the sole, masterpiece of political philosophy in the English language."



Locke, John (1632-1704).
Locke set forth the rational reason for the existence of a limited government: "The great and chief end, therefore, of men's uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property." And, that people could generally regulate themselves without extensive and detailed governmental intervention: "Good and evil, reward and punishment, are the only motives to a rational creature: these are the spur and reins whereby all mankind are set on work, and guided."



Noam Chomsky - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avram Noam Chomsky (/ˈnoʊm ˈtʃɒmski/; born December 7, 1928) is an American linguist, philosopher,[8][9] cognitive scientist, logician,[10][11] historian, political critic, and activist. He is an Institute Professor and Professor (Emeritus) in the Department of Linguistics & Philosophy at MIT, where he has worked for over 50 years.[12] In addition to his work in linguistics, he has written on war, politics, and mass media, and is the author of over 100 books.[13] According to the Arts and Humanities Citation Index in 1992, Chomsky was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992, and was the eighth most cited source overall.[14][15][16][17] He has been described as a prominent cultural figure, and he was voted the "world's top public intellectual" in a 2005 poll.[18][19]