Problems of political philosophy

This book is intended to introduce students to the problems (not the history) of political philosophy without presupposing any previous knowledge of philosophy. A relatively short intro duction must leave many things half-said and others not said at all. The first chapter is one man's picture of the subject, not a programme for what follows. In what does follow there is inevitable selection and limitation, most apparent perhaps on the topic of democracy, adequate discussion of which would need a book to itself.

Chapters I-IV were written in the second of two terms which I spent as a Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and I wish to record my gratitude to the Warden and Fellows for the opportunity of full-time scholarly work in beautiful and peaceful surroundings. The difference it made may be judged from a comparison: Chapters I-IV were completed at All Souls in six weeks; the writing of Chapters V-VII amid the press of my usual administrative and teaching responsibilities at Glasgow stretched over ten months.
Parts of Chapter VI, Sections 1 and 3, together with a little of Chapter III, Section 3, are a revised version of an article entitled 'Equality, Democracy, and International Law', which has pre viously been published in NOMOS IX, Equality.