Conceptualizing Politics

particular normative in character, addressed in this book can make use of
Besussi, Antonella, ed. (2012) A Companion to Political Philosophy, Farnham: Ashgate.
Given this book’s theoretical rather than historical approach, an indispensable com-
plement to it is a history of political philosophy. For a preliminary orientation see:
Klosko, George, ed. (2011) The Oxford Handbook of the History of Political Philosophy, Oxford: 
Oxford University Press.
Not to forget is a classical work, whose chapters deal each with a major thinker:
Strauss, Leo and Joseph Cropsey, eds. (1987) History of Political Philosophy, 3rd edition, Chi-
cago: The University of Chicago Press.
Since one thing is how philosophers of the past conceived of politics and polity, and 
quite a different thing how these effectively developed, equally important would 

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xvi Preface
be a worldwide comparative history of political institutions, which does not, however, 
exist. For Europe, two now classical research works can be cited:
Rokkan, Stein (1999) State Formation, Nation-Building, and Mass Politics in Europe, edited by 
Peter Flora et al., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tilly, Charles, ed. (1975) The Formation of National States in Western Europe, Princeton: Prince-
ton University Press.

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My students of the some twenty-five years in which I gave an introductory course 
at the University of Florence and, later, at the international Ph.D. School, Scuola 
Superiore Sant’Anna, Pisa, along with the followers – primarily from India and 
Pakistan – of my MOOC since 2013, deserve my gratitude for the many questions 
raised and remarks made, from which I was able to learn a lot.
A number of colleagues and friends were so kind as to read one or more of 
the chapters: Stefano Burzo, Ian Carter, Dimitri D’Andrea, Anna Loretoni, Sonia 
Lucarelli, Rodolfo Ragionieri, Bernardino Regazzoni, Enno Rudolph, Vivien 
Schmidt, Mario Telò. Their criticism and their suggestions have been invaluable 
and have greatly improved the text. Any mistakes or omissions remain my own.
I also remain grateful to Kirstin Howgate, then at Ashgate, my original publisher 
before the merger with Routledge, for accepting to publish this book.
Aura Frangioni, the last student who graduated at Florence under my guidance 
before my retirement, has been my research assistant in the preparation of this vol-
ume. I also owe her some philosophical remark on the text. My English has been 
edited by Molly A. (Flynn) Tan
ş, a Ph.D. student at Trinity College, Dublin. I am 
very grateful to both ladies not only for the work they have done, but also for the 
kindness and friendship with which it was done.
It was a joy to write this book under the loving watch of my wife Renata Car-
loni, who also gave me some helpful pieces of advice. The book is dedicated to her.