Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future

by John Dunn

John Dunn's Western Political Theory in the Face of the Future demonstrates that the major traditions of thought from which the political values of the modern West have emerged are all, in the light of recent world history, in crucial respects incoherent or flawed. This second edition underlines the drastic changes in the challenges which face the world, in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse and the end of the Cold War, stressing the ever tighter linking of the global economy with the ecology in which we live, and the problems which this poses for the survival of civilisation.

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction

156 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 1979

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

Right okay so this review, at the moment, is kind of a lie?? I haven’t finished the book. I’m on page 90. It’s a real slog. Some parts are incredibly interesting, like the weaving in of many political theorists/ thinkers into Dunn’s essay. Other than that, I don’t have much else to say. The book is written in an disengaging way, which made me not want to pick it up. With non- fiction, there’s a fine line between making something very informative, almost satisfactorily so, and incredibly boring. Sadly, this is the latter. It has such potential, but it really just isn’t the book for me. Sorry John.

[unperspicacious · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relentlessly bleak throughout and almost cursorily optimistic at the end, this broad and rather scathing review of the entire history of Western political philosophy has a dense, complex, meandering but ultimately singular message: the old ways of co-existing are failing, and we need to find new ways before our species implodes and the planet explodes.

Sadly of course, little in reality seems to have changed since this book was first published over three decades ago...

The short concluding chapter can be read and appreciated on its own merits, even if it does not offer much beyond the standard refrain that 'to look forward, we must first look backward'.

The positive value of interrogating Western traditions of political philosophy seems very soundly argued throughout the rest of the little book, which, despite its claims to the contrary in the preface, presumes a level of prior philosophical and historical understanding which may greatly dismay those looking for an accessible introduction to the history of Western political philosophy; including this poor reader when he was asked to grapple with it as background reading to undergraduate-level coursework ten years ago...

This time round (the third reading), the book's complex journey to its simple message seems a little easier to unravel. Hopefully it will be even more so in another ten years time...if our species hasn't self-destructed by then...

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

It gets 5 stars for being a work of political theory (and a Cambridge School work at that!) that actually cares deeply about contemporary political issues -- Marxism and liberation, the dead ends of nationalism, and so on. But then 1 star because John Dunn's writing, though often beautiful and thought-provoking, is also often impenetrable unless you read every sentence 5 times. So 3 stars on average.

[Aidan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately went in one ear and out the other. A little too intense reading for my rough week. Must reread for a better picture. I did love his critique of Marxian historicist ethics, and liberalism’s ahistorical absolutism.