A political philosophy in public life
Subtitle: civic republicanism in Zapatero's Spain
By: José Luis Martí and Philip Pettit.
Contributors: Pettit, Philip, 1945-
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: Princeton
Language: eng
Number of pages: 198
ISBN-13: 9780691144061
Subjects: Rodríguez Zapatero, José Luis, -- 1960-; Republicanism -- Spain; Spain -- Politics and government -- 1982-
Description: This book examines an unlikely development in modern political philosophy: the adoption by a major national government of the ideas of a living political theorist. When Zapatero became Spain's opposition leader in 2000, he pledged that if his socialist party won power he would govern Spain in accordance with the principles laid out in Philip Pettit's book Republicanism, which presented, as an alternative to liberalism and communitarianism, a theory of freedom and government based on the idea of nondomination. In this book the authors provide the historical background to these unusual events, explain the principles of civic republicanism in accessible terms, present Pettit's report and his response to some of its critics, and include an interview with Zapatero. They also discuss what is required of a political philosophy if it is to play the sort of public role that civic republicanism has been playing in Spain.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: The Spanish context; title: Civic republican theory; title: The theory in practice? Spain, 2004-8. Appendix : challenges and queries; title: An interview with Prime Minister Zapatero; title: Giving philosophy a public life.