Contemporary Political Theory provides an accessible introduction to the key works of major contemporary political theorists. Key theorists and writers include John Rawls, Robert Nozick, Michael Walzer, Michael Sandel, Susan Okin, Will Kymlicka, Iris Marion Young, Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser and John Dryzek.

The readings are organized thematically into seven sections on egalitarian-liberalism, libertarianism, communitarianism, republicanism, feminism, deliberative democracy, and multiculturalism. A substantial introduction is provided to each to identify the main issues and the significance of the carefully selected excerpts that follow.

The result is a complete but concise guide through the literature and major topics and areas of debate in contemporary political theory and political philosophy.

Colin Farrelly is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Contemporary Political Theory: A Reader will complement his textbook Introduction to Contemporary Political Theory also published by SAGE Publications.

PART ONE: EGALITARIAN-LIBERALISM

Justice as Fairness
The Maximin Principle
Primary Goods Reconsidered
Equality of What?
A Question for Egalitarians

PART TWO: LIBERTARIANISM

The Entitlement Theory of Justice
How Liberty Upsets Patterns
On Rectification in Nozick's Minimal State
Justice as Mutual Advantage
A Critique of Justice as Reciprocity

PART THREE: COMMUNITARIANISM

The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self
Liberal Individualism and Liberal Neutrality
Complex Equality

PART FOUR: REPUBLICANISM

Freedom as Antipower
The Republican Critique of Liberalism
Cosmopolitan Republicanism

PART FIVE: FEMINISM

The Public//Private Dichotomy
The Ideal of Community and the Politics of Difference
Recognition or Redistribution

PART SIX: DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY

The Deliberative Model
Deliberative Democracy Beyond Process
Legitimacy and Economy in Deliberative Democracy

PART SEVEN: MULTICULTURALISM

The Politics of Recognition
Equality of Difference
Liberalism and Multiculturalism