Political Hypocrisy by David Runciman
Covers the problems of sincerity and truth in politics, and how we can deal with them without slipping into hypocrisy ourselves. This book argues that we should accept hypocrisy as a fact of politics, but without resigning ourselves to it, let alone cynically embracing it.
A very intelligent, subtle, and learned guide to the classics and to the pre-eminent historical examples of hypocrisy from Mandeville and Hobbes, to Jefferson and the Victorians, with some concluding examples to illustrate the special problems of hypocrisy and sincerity in democracies-- David Martin, Times Literary Supplement [Political Hypocrisy] contains a plethora of shrewd and quotable remarks... What struck a chord with me was his gentle demolition of the idea that a politician's profession of his own sincerity, or passionate belief, proves anything at all. -- Samuel Brittan, Financial Times University of Cambridge political theorist David Runciman takes a far more textured, sophisticated approach to the phenomenon in Political Hypocrisy, a timely, long overdue study of one of public life's in-your-face puzzles. -- Carlin Romano, The Philadelphia Inquirer Political Hypocrisy is not just another denunciation of politicians as liars. Instead, it offers us a tour, from Hobbes and Mandeville to Bentham and Orwell. Runciman is best on the American revolutionaries and our eminent Victorians, perhaps because both the US war of independence and the British empire required self-aware democratic politicians to gloss over the gaps between their proclaimed beliefs and their actual behaviour. -- David Willetts, Prospect Magazine Political Hypocrisy is a deep and thought-provoking work. -- Tim Dunne, THE In the excellent Political Hypocrisy, British journalist David Runciman uses the 2008 campaign to test his thesis that hypocrisy and anti-hypocrisy are joined in a 'discrete system' and that our obsession with this antagonistic tango is making modern politics impossible. -- Richard King, The Australian Literary Review
David Runciman is reader in political theory at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Trinity Hall. He is the author of "The Politics of Good Intentions" (Princeton), and writes regularly about politics for the "London Review of Books".
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780691129310 |
| ISBN 10 | 0691129312 |
| Title | Political Hypocrisy |
| Author | David Runciman |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Princeton University Press |
| Year published | 2008-04-21 |
| Number of pages | 288 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |