In his final book, one of the giants of twentieth-century political philosophy returns to his key themes of state, class, and property as well as such contemporary questions as economic justice, human rights, and the nature of industrial democracy. Macpherson not only re-examines historical issues dealt with in his earlier works, such as the impact of Hobbes's economic assumptions on his political theories, but assesses the problematic future of democracy in a market society. This new edition includes an introduction by Frank Cunningham that places the book in the broader context of Macpherson's work.

C.B. Macpherson was a renowned writer and academic who held the position of Professor of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He was also an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Macpherson's books include Democracy in Alberta, The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism, Burke, and the Rise and Fall of Economic Justice, and Other Papers. He died in 1987.

C.B. MacPherson's profile page

Frank Cunningham is a professor emeritus of Philosophy and Political Science at the University of Toronto.

Frank Cunningham's profile page

"Macpherson does democratic theory as excitingly as it has been done for several decades. Both those who have followed the previous trajectory of his work and those to whom it is unfamiliar can only benefit from a reading of these essays." --Philip Green, American Political Science Review

"Those who have hitherto been unconvinced by Macpherson's analysis of liberal democracy should be moved to reflect again on the work of this liberal theorist who so much wants to save the best of liberalism from the worst of liberalism." --Thomas J. Lewis, Canadian Journal of Political Science