"Political philosophy or political theory is the philosophical study of government, addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them."
The study of political systems, power, and justice.
The State: The role and purpose of the state in society, and the relationship between the state and its citizens.
Democracy: Different types of democracy, how democracies function and the pros and cons of democratic governance.
Justice: What is considered fair and just in society, who should receive what, and the role of the state in distributing resources and opportunities fairly.
Equality: The concept of equality, what types of equality are relevant (e.g. economic, social, political), and how these can be achieved.
Rights: What is considered a right, who is entitled to certain rights, and how these rights are protected.
Individualism: The relationship between individual rights and the greater good of society.
Liberty: The importance of individual freedom, and the relationship between liberty and other political goals (e.g. justice, equality).
Authority: The legitimacy of political authority, who should hold political power, and how that power should be exercised.
Public Goods: What public goods are, and how they should be provided and distributed in society.
Pluralism: The idea that society is made up of different groups with different interests, and how these groups should interact in a democratic society.
Political Ideologies: Different political ideologies, including liberalism, conservatism, socialism, and the different ways they view the role of the state in society.
International Relations: The different types of relationships between states (e.g. cooperation, conflict), and how these relationships affect global politics.
"Its topics include politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of laws by authority: what they are, if they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever."
"Political theory also engages questions of a broader scope, tackling the political nature of phenomena and categories such as identity, culture, sexuality, race, wealth, human-nonhuman relations, ethics, religion, and more."
"Political philosophy is a branch of philosophy, but it has also played a major part of political science, within which a strong focus has historically been placed on both the history of political thought and contemporary political theory (from normative political theory to various critical approaches)."
"For a long time, the challenge for the identity of political theory has been how to position itself productively in three sorts of location: in relation to the academic disciplines of political science, history, and philosophy."
"Between the world of politics and the more abstract, ruminative register of theory."
"Between canonical political theory and the newer resources (such as feminist and critical theory, discourse analysis, film and film theory, popular and political culture, mass media studies, neuroscience, environmental studies, behavioral science, and economics) on which political theorists increasingly draw."
"[...] an interdisciplinary endeavor whose center of gravity lies at the humanities end of the happily still undisciplined discipline of political science."
"But in French and Spanish, the plural (sciences politiques and ciencias políticas, respectively) is used, perhaps a reflection of the discipline's eclectic nature."
"[...] between the academic disciplines of political science, history, and philosophy."
"[...] between the world of politics and the more abstract, ruminative register of theory."
"[...] politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law, and the enforcement of laws by authority."
"[...] the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them."
"[...] on which political theorists increasingly draw."
"[...] the history of political thought and contemporary political theory."
"[...] feminism and critical theory, discourse analysis, film and film theory, popular and political culture, mass media studies, neuroscience, environmental studies, behavioral science, and economics."
"[...] addressing questions about the nature, scope, and legitimacy of public agents and institutions and the relationships between them."
"[...] what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect, what form it should take, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government."
"[...] both the history of political thought and contemporary political theory."
"[...] an interdisciplinary endeavor."