Best Selling Books by Raymond Plant

A stimulating introduction to central issues of political theory, including liberty, rights and the state, and the claims of need and politics.

The aim of the book is two-fold. First of all it is to provide a fair, complete and analytical account of the Neo-liberal conception of the role and function of the state in modern society. The second aim is to provide a critical assessment of some of the central elements of this conception. The book will look at the emphasis of Neo-liberals on procedural and rule governed approaches to the role of the state rather than outcome or end state views of the role of government and to consider how this conception of politics relates to issues such as the rule of law, freedom, justice, rights, the relationship to the market economy, to civil society and to look at the role of government in relation to the provision of welfare and public sector services more generally. It builds up the Neo-liberal case in respect of these aspects of modern society by drawing upon the works of central Neo-liberal thinkers such as Hayek, Mises, Menger, as well as thinkers such as Oakeshott, Nozick and Rotbard who are not directly Neo-liberals but whose works have been important for the development of central Neo-liberal themes. The second part of the book provides what might be regarded as an immanent critique of the Neo-liberal case built up in the first part of the study. It takes Neo-liberal ideas very seriously and shows how incoherences arise within and between those ideas such that a plausible form of Neo-liberalism as opposed to Libertarianism on the one hand and Social Democracy on the other is very difficult to state. The theme of this book is very germane given the considerable debate which is now taking place in the context of the world financial crisis about the appropriate role for the state.

Initially published in 1974, this is a work of applied social and political philosophy which relates the philsophical analysis to various forms of community work theory and practice. Raymond Plant emphasizes that ''community'' has a wide range of both descriptive meanings and evaluative connotations, linking this dual role of the word in the description and evaluation of social experience to its history in ideological confrontations. The book takes account of some liberal criticisms of the community ideal, and finally seeks to re-state a theory of community compatible with a liberal ideology.

First published in 1973 this volume demonstrates the interconnection between Hegel''s political and metaphysical writings. This book provides a point of entry into Hegel''s system of ideas. Condemned unread, and when read far too often misunderstood, Hegel''s thought has once more begun to make its impact on contemporary ideas with many of today''s most important social and political thinkers.

This book examines the moral foundations of liberal societies through the role of Christian belief in public policy.

First published in 1970, the aim of the book is to ''map the logical geography'' of an important set of concepts which enter into the theory of social casework - those concerning the individual and society. Concepts examined include the individually orientated values of ''self-direction'' and ''acceptance'', and those of ''role'', ''adjustment'' and ''integration'', which express the individual''s relation to society. The author''s main concern is to see whether a coherent theory of the relationship between individual and society can be given in terms of these concepts and to argue that such a theory is fundamental to casework discussion. Mr Plant also discusses what, if any, social or political commitments the activity of casework presupposes, and evaluates the view that casework is ''apolitical''.

This re-issued work, first published in 1980, represents a work of normative political philosophy which argues positively for the centrality of the obligation to meet the various demands of social need in our society, and will be of particular interest to students of politics, philosophy, social politics and administration. Bringing the insights of analytical Political Philosophy to bear on the issues of social welfare and welfare provision, the authors discuss such issues as the basis of the sense of stigma involved in the receipt of welfare benefits, the right of welfare and the concepts of ‘community’.

''What experience and history teaches us is that people and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it'' ''What and how much I possess is a matter of indifference so far as rights are concerned'' ''Education is the art of making man ethical'' Without Hegel, modern thought is unthinkable - all those whose ideas have made the modern age have worked in his shadow. Hegel''s preoccupations remain as relevant today as ever - not least the isolation of the individual adrift in society. Yet if his ''philosophy'' seems as contemporary as ever, Hegel''s ''religious'' views have been dismissed as irrelevant anachronism. In this concise and illuminating guide, Raymond Plant demonstrates how the distinction is false, revealing that Hegel tackled the issues of interest to us all.

The shock waves of conservative advances have reached into every corner of American and British politics. Parties of the right have prospered, while parties of the left have stumbled, retreated, and are now regrouping. The agenda for both right and left is set by the terms of the free-market doctrines that have displaced the post-war consensus politics of liberal capitalism. This volume describes and challenges the ideological basis of the free-market right. Though critiques of the policies of the Reagan and Thatcher governments are hardly in short supply, this major new study offers the most thorough and up-to-date analysis available. No other book considers in such depth conservative ideas and policies on both sides of the Atlantic. It provides the first clear account of the distinction between conservative and other forms of capitalism. It also examines the fault lines dividing opposing camps within conservative capitalism and their consequences for domestic policy in Britain and the US. Linking political theory and public policy, it is one of the few critical appraisals of the New Right based on a clear understanding of what the arguments for the free market really are. Finally, the authors demonstrate what the left needs to learn from its failures, how to remould its understanding of the relationship between politics and the market, and how to recapture the lost initiative.

After 14 years of Conservative attacks on the traditional welfare state, the Labour Party is having to reassess what it means by social justice. Long regarded as a basic tenet of Labour values, socialists need now to consider what the concept means in the 1990s and beyond.

In this pamphlet, Raymond Plant argues for a society based on democratic citizenship: that Labour should promote policies which enable every citizen to lead a full and autonomous life shaped by their own values and purposes. This requires a framework of education, health care, income and law that underpins such citizenship. It also provides a rationale for the transfer of resources outside the workings of the market to achieve the ends of citizenship. -- Page 4 of cover.