Political Hypocrisy
The Mask of Power, from Hobbes to Orwell and Beyond
Published on 1. August 2010
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-691-14815-1 (ISBN)
Description
What kind of hypocrite should voters choose as their next leader? The question seems utterly cynical. But, as David Runciman suggests, it is actually much more cynical to pretend that politics can ever be completely sincere. The most dangerous form of political hypocrisy is to claim to have a politics without hypocrisy. Political Hypocrisy is a timely, and timeless, book on the problems of sincerity and truth in politics, and how we can deal with them without slipping into hypocrisy ourselves. Runciman tackles the problems through lessons drawn from some of the great truth-tellers in modern political thought--Hobbes, Mandeville, Jefferson, Bentham, Sidgwick, and Orwell--and applies his ideas to different kinds of hypocritical politicians from Oliver Cromwell to Hillary Clinton. Runciman argues that we should accept hypocrisy as a fact of politics, but without resigning ourselves to it, let alone cynically embracing it. We should stop trying to eliminate every form of hypocrisy, and we should stop vainly searching for ideally authentic politicians. Instead, we should try to distinguish between harmless and harmful hypocrisies and should worry only about its most damaging varieties.
Written in a lively style, this book will change how we look at political hypocrisy and how we answer some basic questions about politics: What are the limits of truthfulness in politics? And when, where, and how should we expect our politicians to be honest with us, and about what?
Written in a lively style, this book will change how we look at political hypocrisy and how we answer some basic questions about politics: What are the limits of truthfulness in politics? And when, where, and how should we expect our politicians to be honest with us, and about what?
Reviews / Votes
One of Sunday Times's Best Books in Politics for 2008 "A very intelligent, subtle, and learned guide to the classics and to the pre-eminent historical examples of hypocrisy from Mandeville and Hobbes, to Jefferson and the Victorians, with some concluding examples to illustrate the special problems of hypocrisy and sincerity in democracies."--David Martin, Times Literary Supplement "[Political Hypocrisy] contains a plethora of shrewd and quotable remarks... What struck a chord with me was his gentle demolition of the idea that a politician's profession of his own sincerity, or passionate belief, proves anything at all."--Samuel Brittan, Financial Times "University of Cambridge political theorist David Runciman takes a far more textured, sophisticated approach to the phenomenon in Political Hypocrisy, a timely, long overdue study of one of public life's in-your-face puzzles."--Carlin Romano, The Philadelphia Inquirer "Political Hypocrisy is not just another denunciation of politicians as liars. Instead, it offers us a tour, from Hobbes and Mandeville to Bentham and Orwell. Runciman is best on the American revolutionaries and our eminent Victorians, perhaps because both the US war of independence and the British empire required self-aware democratic politicians to gloss over the gaps between their proclaimed beliefs and their actual behaviour."--David Willetts, Prospect Magazine "Political Hypocrisy is a deep and thought-provoking work."--Tim Dunne, THE "In the excellent Political Hypocrisy, British journalist David Runciman uses the 2008 campaign to test his thesis that hypocrisy and anti-hypocrisy are joined in a 'discrete system' and that our obsession with this antagonistic tango is making modern politics impossible."--Richard King, The Australian Literary Review "In a masterly survey of political philosophers, practitioners and writers, he has brought out how they have dealt with hypocrisy in politics and addressed the question of when it is worth worrying over and when it is not worth worrying."--D. N. Ghosh, Economic & Political Weekly "Runciman's book should be appreciated for its attempt to present an alternate--and historical--approach to the issue of political hypocrisy. He successfully delves into the many fine distinctions that make up each theorist's approach and response to hypocrisy, which is particularly useful for a topic that so utterly lacks a clear division between black and white, and what is right and wrong."--Kiku Huckle, Peace and Justice StudiesMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
1 halftone.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
397 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-14815-1 (9780691148151)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2009
1st Edition
Princeton University Press
€21.99
Available for download
Book
04/2008
Princeton University Press
€29.71
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
David Runciman is reader in political theory at the University of Cambridge and a fellow of Trinity Hall. He is the author of "The Politics of Good Intentions" (Princeton), and writes regularly about politics for the "London Review of Books".
Content
Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: Hobbes and the Mask of Power 16 Chapter 2: Mandeville and the Virtues of Vice 45 Chapter 3: The American Revolution and the Art of Sincerity 74 Chapter 4: Bentham and the Utility of Fiction 116 Chapter 5: Victorian Democracy and Victorian Hypocrisy 142 Chapter 6: Orwell and the Hypocrisy of Ideology 168 Conclusion: Sincerity and Hypocrisy in Democratic Politics 194 Notes 227 Bibliography 245 Index 259