Plain-language explanation.
Political theory examines the fundamental concepts of political life — liberty, justice, authority, democracy, and rights — asking what makes government legitimate and what justice requires.
Core concepts and standard treatment.
Core political theory covers classical foundations (Plato — Republic — philosopher-kings — justice as harmony; Aristotle — Politics — political animal — good polis — rule of law; Machiavelli — The Prince — virtue and fortune; Hobbes — Leviathan — state of nature — war of all against all — social contract for security; Locke — Two Treatises — natural rights — life, liberty, estate — consent — right of revolution; Rousseau — general will — popular sovereignty; Hegel — state as ethical community; Mill — On Liberty — harm principle — utilitarianism — representative government; Marx — historical materialism — class struggle — alienation; Weber — types of authority — iron cage), contemporary theory (Rawls — A Theory of Justice — original position — veil of ignorance — two principles — difference principle — maximin — primary goods; Nozick — libertarianism — entitlement theory — critique of redistribution; communitarianism — Sandel, MacIntyre, Taylor — embedded self; Habermas — discourse ethics — deliberative democracy — ideal speech situation; Arendt — vita activa — public realm — banality of evil), and democratic theory (Dahl — polyarchy — eight institutional guarantees; Lijphart — majoritarian vs consensus — Westminster vs consociational; deliberative democracy — Fishkin deliberative polling; epistocracy — Brennan Against Democracy; backsliding — Runciman How Democracy Ends).
Deeper theory, debates and edge cases.
Advanced political theory covers agonistic and critical approaches (Mouffe — agonistic democracy — left populism; Laclau — populist reason — empty signifiers; Lefort — empty place of power; Fraser — recognition and redistribution — participatory parity; Young — justice and the politics of difference — five faces of oppression; Benhabib — interactive universalism — democratic iterations), global justice and cosmopolitanism (Rawls — Law of Peoples — duty of assistance; Pogge — negative duties — global institutional harm; Beitz — global original position; Singer — effective altruism; Nussbaum — capabilities approach globally; climate justice — Shue — basic rights to subsistence — CBDR — Caney per capita emissions rights; Parfit — non-identity problem), and democracy theory and crisis (digital democracy — big data and political manipulation — Cambridge Analytica — Zuboff surveillance capitalism; Sunstein — echo chambers and polarisation; AI and disinformation; democratic innovations — citizens assemblies — Ireland abortion — Climate Assembly UK).
How it is applied in practice.
At the political theory professor and policy intellectual level, practitioners contribute to Political Theory and Philosophy and Public Affairs; advise government on constitutional ethics (Nolan Principles — Committee on Standards in Public Life — seven principles; Ethics Adviser PM — Lord Geidt resignation; ACOBA revolving door; Independent Adviser Ministers Interests; electoral integrity — Defending Democracy Taskforce); contribute to international political philosophy (Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science LSE; Oxford Blavatnik School; EUI Florence; APSA Foundations of Political Theory section); lead public philosophy (Sandel Harvard Justice course — edX most-watched; Pettit republicanism — non-domination; Isaiah Berlin two concepts of liberty 1958 canonical lecture); and apply political theory to policy (deliberative mini-publics — citizens assemblies — oDPD global climate; public reason — Rawls applied to NICE QALY utilitarian calculus vs Rawlsian fair innings).