This monumental volume provides the most comprehensive and authoritative collection of the essential primary readings in post-war political philosophy.The anthology includes classic articles on the nature of the state, democracy, justice, rights, liberty, equality, and oppression. It sets work in politics, law and economics alongside philosophical texts: work of continental philosophers alongside analytic philosophers: work of feminists, marxists, and other radicals alongside that of more traditional liberals.Together with the Companion to Contemporary Political Philosophy (Blackwell, paperback edition 1996), also edited by Goodin and Pettit, this volume forms the basis for a truly systematic introduction to political philosophy as it is practised today.