A History of Western Political Thought traces the development and consolidation of a tradition of Western political thought from ancient Greece through to the development of the modern state, the American Enlightenment, the rise of liberalism and the very different reactions it engendered.

McClelland's definition of politics encompasses both power wielded from above and power threatened from below. The sustained pursuit of this theme leads him to present an original and often controversial view of the theorists of the received canon and to add some writers to that canon whom he feels have been unjustly neglected.

A History of Western Political Thought will inform, challenge, provoke and entertain any reader interested in what people have had to say about politics in the last two and a half thousand years and why it matters.

A History of Western Political Thought is an energetic, engaged arid lucid account of the most important political thinkers and themes of the last two and a half millennia. It traces the development and consolidation of a tradition of Western political thought from ancient Greece through to the development of the modern state, the American Enlightenment, the rise of liberalism and the very different reactions that it engendered. McClelland's definition of politics encompasses both power wielded from above and power threatened from below. The sustained pursuit of this theme leads him to present an original and often controversial view of the theorists of the received canon and to add some writers to that canon whom he feels have been unjustly neglected.