Contemporary Western Political Thought

Author: Zhang Lijun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-06-08
Features: This book introduces six influential and representative ideological trends: liberalism, conservatism, social democracy, Western Marxism, green peace movement, and feminism. When introducing these six political ideologies, it adopts a combination of vertical and horizontal approaches, integrating historical and logical perspectives, striving to avoid either complete negation or complete affirmation of Western political ideologies. It aims to observe and explain the reality from the height of historical materialism, based on the critiques of Western politics by Marx, Engels, and Lenin, and provides a realistic evaluation of the strengths and limitations of contemporary Western political ideologies. Vertically, the book clearly traces the origins of these political ideologies and, starting from this point, briefly introduces their development and theoretical characteristics. Horizontally, it vividly showcases the real contradictions and development trends of contemporary capitalist countries by introducing the views of contemporary representatives of these ideological trends. It reveals the different focuses of these political ideologies in critiquing and defending contemporary capitalism, enabling students of contemporary Western political ideologies to not only understand the historical context of these ideologies but also grasp their new developments.