Arguments and Fists: Political Agency and Justification in Liberal Theory

"An orignial and optimistic work: orignial not only in its readings of both classic texts and contemporary pollitical debates, but also in its efforts to make the two speak to one another. It may be that what scholars of political life need most right now is the kind of optimism Arguments and Fists has to offer. lo--Catherine Holland, University of Missouri." "An impressive piece of work. Arguments and Fists sheds much light on an important and much discussed issue in contemporary liberal thought: political agency and action. LaVaque-Manty succeeds very well in using his treatment of contemporary environmental politics to show how some of the problems he discusses abstractly actually work themselves our in practice. lo--Bernard Yack, University of Wisconsin-Madison." "An original and optimistic work-I like this book quite a lot."-Catherine Holland, University of Missouri." "An impressive piece of work. Arguments and Fists sheds much light on an important and much discussed issue in contemporary liberal thought: political agency and action. LaVaque-Manty succeeds very well in using his treatment of contemporary environemntal politics to how some of the problems he discusses abstractly actually work themselves out in practice. lo--Bernard Yack, University of Wisconsin-Madison." "An original and optimistic work: orignial not only in its readings of both classic texts and contemporary political debates, but also in its efforts to make the two speak to one another. It may be that what scholars of political life need most right now is the kind of optimism Arguments and Fists has to offer. lo--Catherine Holland, University of Missouri." "Factors that exclude individuals from participating in relevant justificatory communities & consequently functioning as political agents under the liberal account of political action are considered, & the question of who or what forces legitimate political action within liberal thought is addressed." -- J.W. Parker "Accomplishes significantly more than previous work has done, and calls attention to an important new direction for development in political theory." -- American Political Science Review