Pluralism and the Personality of the State

Pluralism and the Personality of the State tells the history of English political thought from 1900–1933.

David Runciman (Author)

9780521022637, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 10 November 2005

300 pages
23 x 15.5 x 2 cm, 0.455 kg

"...such thoroughness is part and parcel of the book's great value to historians of ideas in early twentieth century England." Review of Metaphysics

Set against the broad context of philosophical arguments about group and state personality, Pluralism and the Personality of the State tells, for the first time, the history of political pluralism. The pluralists believed that the state was simply one group among many, and could not therefore be sovereign. They also believed that groups, like individuals, might have personalities of their own. The book examines the philosophical background to political pluralist ideas with particular reference to the work of Thomas Hobbes and the German Otto von Gierke. It also traces the development of pluralist thought before, during and after the First World War. Part Three returns to Hobbes in order to see what conclusions can be drawn about the nature of his Leviathan and the nature of the state as it exists today.

Preface
Part I. The Personality of Associations: 1. Introduction
2. Hobbes and the person of the commonwealth
3. Gierke and the Genossenschaft
4. Trusts and sovereigns
Part II. Political Pluralism: 5. Maitland and the real personality of associations
6. Figgis and the communitas communitatum
7. Barker and the discredited state
8. Cole and guild socialism
9. Laski and political pluralism
10. The return of the state
Part III. The Personality of the State: 11. The mask of personality
12. The mask of the group
13. The mask of the state
14. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]