This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1984.

"This book situates the development of radical English political thought within the context of the specific nature of agrarian capitalism and the struggles that ensued around the nature of the state during the revolutionary decade of the 1640s. In the context of the emerging conceptions of the state and property - with attendant notions of accumulation, labor, and the common good - groups such as Levellers and Diggers developed distinctive forms of radical political thought not because they were progressive, forward thinkers, but because they were the most significant challengers of the newly constituted forms of political and economic power." "Drawing on recent reexaminations of the nature of agrarian capitalism and modernity in the early modern period, Geoff Kennedy argues that any interpretation of the political theory of this period must relate to the changing nature of social property relations and state power. The radical nature of early modern English political thought is therefore cast-in terms of its oppositional relationship to these novel forms of property and state power, rather than being conceived of as a formal break from discursive conventions."--BOOK JACKET.

Not only did these Tudor thinkers condemn widespread poverty and suffering, expressing a social concern that was unprecedented among the privileged of their day, they were also among first Europeans to base their analysis and protest on the available empirical evidence. Without opposing the status quo they were fashioning an economic conception of the state, perhaps their chief claim for being remembered

Agriculture is a highly sensitive industry. Throughout their history, national governments have intervened in and protected their agricultural sectors. The problems of competition in agriculture have been continually illustrated by disagreement over the European Community's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and, more recently, by attempts to reform farming policy in the last round of the GATT negotiations. The Failure of Agrarian Capitalism presents a comparative analysis of in agarian policies in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA from 1846-1919.

How did the dynamic economic system we know as capitalism develop among the peasants and lords of feudal Europe? In The Origin of Capitalism, a now-classic work of history, Ellen Meiksins Wood offers readers a clear and accessible introduction to the theories and debates concerning the birth of capitalism, imperialism, and the modern nation state. Capitalism is not a natural and inevitable consequence of human nature, nor simply an extension of age-old practices of trade and commerce. Rather, it is a late and localized product of very specific historical conditions, which required great transformations in social relations and in the relationship between humans and nature.

The period from 1509 to 1688 was one of great social turbulence in Britain, and a key period in the history of political thought. This work covers the major themes of the time, including conceptions of the state and of natural rights, consent and property. It provides an examination of the main texts, situating them in their social and historical context. It looks at the role of the canonical thinkers - Thomas More, Hobbes, and Locke - and the participation of Sir Thomas Smith and radical thinkers such as the Levellers. These figures are viewed in the context both of their time, and of the wider social, economic and political arena. The authors set out to show how specific patterns of historical development relate to distinctive traditions in political thought.

In this sympathetic restatement of C B Macpherson's ideas, Townshend provides an overview of Macpherson's theory of possessive individualism and critique of liberal democracy. He suggests that criticism of Macpherson has been misplaced and asks whether his theories should now be given more prominence by political theorists. This is the first book to deal comprehensively with the issues surrounding Macpherson's work; previous studies have used him as a point of departure rather than the focus of detailed analysis and none have included an overall assessment of his thought.Key Features*Examination of Macpherson's project in its totality.*Defence of Macpherson against his liberal, feminist, Marxist and ecological critics.*Defence of his interpretation of Hobbes and Locke.*Demonstration of his continuing relevance for contemporary political philosophy and for the study of politics generally.