Freeden, Michael. The Political Theory of Political Thinking. Oxford: Oxford University Press, November
2013.
In a highly erudite and comprehensive manner, the prominent
British political theorist Michael Freeden (University of Nottingham) raises
fundamental questions about how students of politics and others engage in
political thinking. The author is
concerned about the increasingly “slippery” language employed in political
discourse, and while admitting that the meaning of political terminology is
always undergoing change, there is nevertheless a need for decisiveness and
finality to sustain the body politic (p. 74).
Most importantly, Freeden urges a reorientation and renewed linguistic
refinement among political theorists, suggesting that such a process would
reinvigorate the how we think about politics.
The complexities of the analysis in the work are necessary and do
obfuscate from the author’s mission. For
example, “micro” level studies of political language usually fail to provide
“interpretative flexibilities” that facilitate broad level of
understanding. Similarly, the goal of
encouraging fluidity in political thinking may not always prove useful,
suggesting an element of skepticism regarding relativism as a guiding principle
for politics.
