ABSTRACT
This chapter is devoted to exploring the tradition of political thought. It begins by examining how political thought is to be understood, recognising the diversity of ways in which politics and thought are related. It
concentrates upon discussing political philosophy, in the guise of the classic texts of political philosophers. It analyses the relationship between the classic texts of traditional political philosophy and the more recent style of analytical political philosophising undertaken in the Anglo-Saxon world. Subsequently the character of the history of political thought is reviewed. The debate between contextualist historians and those who consider that the great texts of political philosophy can speak for themselves is examined. Thereafter, a number of specific political philosophies are reviewed. Finally, political Islam and issues of gender are looked at to highlight the ways in which the history of Western political thought is limited by contextual assumptions which render its analysis of politics less universal than is sometimes imagined.
