Conversations About Politics

This compendium includes the following 5 complete books featuring renowned political scientists Jacques Bertrand, Mark Bevir, John Dunn, Michael Frazer and Josiah Ober providing fully accessible insights into cutting-edge academic research while revealing the inspirations and personal journeys behind the research. The books are explicitly designed to provide a unique window into frontline research and scholarship that wouldn't otherwise be experienced through standard lectures and textbooks. A detailed preface highlights the connections between the different books and all five books are broken into chapters with a detailed introduction and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter:

I. Exploring Southeast Asia - A conversation with Jacques Bertrand, Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto. This conversation explores Bertrand's extensive research on the politics and political changes in Southeast Asia and provides detailed insights into this extensive and complex region which consists of countries with remarkably diverse histories and cultures.

II. How Social Science Creates the World - A conversation Mark Bevir, Professor of Political Science, UC Berkeley. Mark Bevir is an internationally acclaimed expert in the theory of governance. This conversation examines how attempts to shoehorn political science into a natural science framework commonly fail and how correctly appreciating what social science is and does, has a direct bearing on our everyday social lives.

III. Democracy: Clarifying the Muddle - A conversation with political theorist John Dunn, University of Cambridge. John Dunn candidly shares his deep insights on the historical development and current significance and future of democracy in different parts of the world and the relevance of political science departments in achieving democracy and other worthwhile goals.

IV. The Power of Sympathy: Politics and Moral Sentimentalism - A conversation with Michael Frazer, Senior Lecturer in Political and Social Theory, University of East Anglia. After inspiring insights on Michael Frazer's intellectual journey, the conversation explores the core ideas behind the sentimentalist theory. The 18th century, known as "the age of reason", was actually an era in which many leading moral and political philosophers placed equal emphasis on feeling.

V. Democratic Lessons: What the Greeks Can Teach Us - A conversation with Josiah Ober, Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Professor in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis Professor of Political Science and Classics at Stanford University. This conversation provides a detailed exploration of Ober's research of the classical world. Topics covered include: how we can gain valuable insights into ancient Athenian society by examining rhetoric; how social media might help us fruitfully recreate aspects of the past; how the ancient Athenians didn't just happen to stumble upon the idea of democracy and how they managed to make it work in practice for the better part of 200 years.