Handbook of Political Theory

In contrast to the rather poor Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, the SAGE handbook is excellent. Of the 30 chapters of the book, I would say 28 of them were really interesting and authoritative (I didn't care that much for the chapter on Straussian Approaches, and really, the chapter on premodern Chinese political thought was terrible!) The handbook obviously approaches political theory from the Anglo-Saxon point of view. Therefore, one gets an impeccably thorough discussion on the different aspects of liberalism, from libertarianism to Rawls. My point of departure, on the other hand, is Critical Theory (Habermas) and Scandinavian egalitarianism. Therefore, I was happy with very interesting chapters on democratic theory, the welfare state and distributive justice (and the chapter on the curious so-called analytical Marxism), balancing the discussion on liberalism. The history section is excellent, too. I am tempted to say that all one really needs to know about Greek political thought is covered on 17 pages in Part IV. In sum, therefore, this book is highly recommended.