Political Philosophy: A Beginners' Guide for Students and Politicians

Citation

Swift, A. (2019). Political Philosophy: A Beginners' Guide for Students and Politicians (4th ed.). Polity.

Chapter Summary

A book of 288 pages, now in its fourth edition, by Adam Swift, Professor of Political Theory at University College London. The publisher's opening questions set the tone: politicians invoke grand ideas such as social justice, democracy, community, liberty and equality, but what do these ideas really mean, and how can politicians across the political spectrum appeal to the same values? The book is organised not by thinkers or periods but by these values, in five parts between a short introduction and a conclusion. The fourth edition adds new material on nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism and updates the guides to further reading. The publicly listed contents give the book's parts rather than the titles of individual chapters, so the descriptions below follow the parts and the publisher's description.

Preface and Preface to Fourth Edition

The contents list a preface and a separate preface to the fourth edition. The publisher reports that this edition adds material on nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism and updated guides to further reading.

Introduction

Presents the book's aim. The publisher describes the project as bringing political philosophy out of the ivory tower and within reach of all, giving readers tools to "cut through the complexities" of modern politics and to think for themselves about the ideas that shape political life.

Part 1: Social Justice

The first value discussed. The part title indicates a treatment of what social justice means and how political philosophers have analysed it, in line with the publisher's aim of explaining the ideas that politicians invoke.

Part 2: Democracy

The second value, which the publisher lists among the grand ideas that politicians invoke.

Part 3: Liberalism and Community

The third part pairs liberalism with community; the publisher lists community among the grand ideas of political rhetoric.

Part 4: Liberty

The fourth value, and another idea that politicians across the spectrum appeal to.

Part 5: Equality

The last of the five values, which completes the set the publisher names: social justice, democracy, community, liberty, equality.

Conclusion

Closes the book. The publisher's closing argument is that democracy works best when politicians and voters move beyond rhetoric to think clearly about the values and principles that should govern society.

Key Concepts

Introduction

• Political philosophy as clear thinking: the book's premise that careful analysis of political values helps citizens and politicians see past rhetoric.

Parts 1–5

• Social justice: the value examined in Part 1.
• Democracy: the value examined in Part 2.
• Liberalism and community: the pair of ideas examined in Part 3.
• Liberty: the value examined in Part 4.
• Equality: the value examined in Part 5.

New in the fourth edition

• Nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism: the publisher names these as new subject matter in this edition.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

• Organised by values, not by thinkers. The five parts follow the ideas politicians actually argue about, which makes the book usable by readers who do not know the history of the discipline. The publisher also stresses that the book uses plenty of examples.
• Written for two audiences. The title and description address both students and politicians, and the book is aimed at a general readership as well as undergraduates.
• Well regarded by a politician. Ed Miliband, quoted by the publisher, calls it a welcoming invitation into political philosophy and an urgent injunction to think more deeply and read more widely, and praises it as highly readable and relevant.
• Established and revised. It has reached a fourth edition, with updated reading guides and new material on questions that have grown more prominent: nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism.

Limitations

• Short on thinkers' texts. Because the book is structured by values rather than by authors, readers should not expect a thinker-by-thinker account; those who want primary arguments need to read the original works.
• Contents are only partly itemised. The public contents give parts, not chapters, so the exact internal structure of each part has to be checked in the book itself.
• A beginner's guide. The scope is introductory; a student already reading contemporary theory may find it covers familiar ground.

Where It Fits in the Course

In the modern political thought list, Swift is the book organised around reasoning about values. Andrew Heywood's Political Ideologies: An Introduction is a large survey that treats one ideology per chapter, from liberalism and conservatism to feminism and populism, and answers the question of what people believe; Swift answers the question of how to think about whether the beliefs are well founded. Reading the two together gives both the map of ideologies and a method for assessing their arguments.

Will Kymlicka's Contemporary Political Philosophy is the natural next step: a critical survey that presents each main school of Anglo-American political philosophy since Rawls, reconstructs its best arguments and then examines the objections. The primary works then follow: Rawls's A Theory of Justice on justice as fairness, Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia on the minimal state, and Iris Marion Young's Justice and the Politics of Difference on domination, oppression and group difference. Swift's treatment of social justice, liberty and equality prepares the ground for these three.

How to Use This Book

No background in philosophy or political theory is needed. The book suits first-year students, citizens who follow political debate, and anyone who wants a short, argument-driven introduction before a course in political theory.

• Core: read the introduction and the five parts in order; they build from social justice to equality, and a single reading will supply the vocabulary for the more demanding books.
• Alongside the text: for each value, pick a current political argument that uses it and write down which meaning of the value the speaker is relying on; then check the claim with the book's discussion.
• Selective use: if the course is about citizenship and identity, begin with Part 3 and the new material on nationalism, immigration and multiculturalism, and return to the earlier parts later.
• After the book: use the updated guides to further reading to choose primary texts, then move to Kymlicka and the major works by Rawls, Nozick and Young.