Fowler provides an innovative critical exploration of ethical issues in children’s upbringing through the lens of political philosophy, calling for a radical new understanding of what constitutes wellbeing, the duties of parents and the collective obligations of state and society in guaranteeing children flourishing lives.

Combining political philosophy with sociological perspectives, this radical and critical account of family justice explores children’s wellbeing and ethical issues in children’s upbringing. Fowler reconceptualises what constitutes children’s wellbeing, the duties of parents to promote children’s wellbeing and the collective obligations of state and society to ensure that children’s best interests are advanced and protected. Arguing that the wellbeing of children should not be measured in terms of subjective happiness but rather by them coming to hold an appropriate set of values and aspirations, Fowler challenges the dominant liberal model of parenting and calls instead for all citizens to be responsible for guaranteeing that children lead flourishing lives.

"In the Shadow of Justice tells the story of how liberal political philosophy was transformed in the second half of the twentieth century under the influence of John Rawls. In this first-ever history of contemporary liberal theory, Katrina Forrester shows how liberal egalitarianism--a set of ideas about justice, equality, obligation, and the state--became dominant, and traces its emergence from the political and ideological context of the postwar United States and Britain. In the aftermath of the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War, Rawls's A Theory of Justice made a particular kind of liberalism essential to political philosophy. Using archival sources, Forrester explores the ascent and legacy of this form of liberalism by examining its origins in midcentury debates among American antistatists and British egalitarians. She traces the roots of contemporary theories of justice and inequality, civil disobedience, just war, global and intergenerational justice, and population ethics in the 1960s and '70s and beyond. In these years, political philosophers extended, developed, and reshaped this liberalism as they responded to challenges and alternatives on the left and right--from the New International Economic Order to the rise of the New Right. These thinkers remade political philosophy in ways that influenced not only their own trajectory but also that of their critics. Recasting the history of late twentieth-century political thought and providing novel interpretations and fresh perspectives on major political philosophers, In the Shadow of Justice offers a rigorous look at liberalism's ambitions and limits."--

Michael Freeden explores the concept of liberalism, one of the longest-standing and central political theories and ideologies. Combining a variety of approaches, he distinguishes between liberalism as a political movement, as a system of ideas, and as a series of ethical and philosophical principles.

This is a short, accessible introduction to John Rawls' thought and gives a thorough and concise presentation of the main outlines of Rawls' theory as well as drawing links between Rawls' enterprise and other important positions in moral and political philosophy.

Liberal States, Authoritarian Families sheds new light on longstanding questions in educational and political philosophy about the relationship between parents and children in a liberal state. Contemporary theorists argue that the family should be democratized to reflect the egalitarian ideals of the liberal state, but Koganzon argues that this desire for "congruence" between familial and state authority was originally illiberal in origin, advanced bytheorists of absolute sovereignty like Bodin and Hobbes. By contrast, early liberals like Locke and Rousseau rejected congruence, denying personal authority in government while reinforcing it within the family. Against the contemporary view that authority is the enemy of liberty, Koganzon shows how familial andpedagogical authority were originally conceived as necessary preservatives for liberty.

Samuel Freeman is a leading political philosopher and one of the foremost authorities on the works of John Rawls. Liberalism and Distributive Justice offers a series of Freeman's essays in contemporary political philosophy on three different forms of liberalism-classical liberalism, libertarianism, and the high liberal tradition--and their relation to capitalism, the welfare state, and economic justice.

Neoliberalism, with its worldview of competition, choice and calculation, its economisation of everything, and its will to govern has ‘sunk its roots deep’ into Early Childhood Education and Care. This book considers its deeply detrimental impacts upon young children, families, settings and the workforce. Through an exploration of possibilities for resistance and refusal, and reflection on the significance of the coronavirus pandemic, Roberts-Holmes and Moss provide hope that neoliberalism’s current hegemony can be successfully contested. The book provides a critical introduction to neoliberalism and three closely related and influential concepts – Human Capital theory, Public Choice theory and New Public Management – as well as an overview of the impact of neoliberalism on compulsory education, in particular through the Global Education Reform Movement. With its main focus on Early Childhood Education and Care, this book argues that while neoliberalism is a very powerful force, it is ‘deeply problematic, eminently resistible and eventually replaceable’ – and that there are indeed alternatives. Neoliberalism and Early Childhood Education is an insightful supplement to the studies of students and researchers in Early Childhood Education and Sociology of Education, and is also highly relevant to policy makers.

In this unique volume, some of today's most eminent political philosophers examine the thought of John Rawls, focusing in particular on his most recent work. These original essays explore diverse issues, including the problem of pluralism, the relationship between constitutive commitment and liberal institutions, just treatment of dissident minorities, the constitutional implications of liberalism, international relations, and the structure of international law. The first comprehensive study of Rawls's recent work, The Idea of Political Liberalism will be indispensable for political philosophers and theorists interested in contemporary political thought.

Debates about children’s rights not only concern those things that children have a right to have and to do but also our broader social and political community, and the moral and political status of the child within it. This book examines children’s rights and citizenship in the USA, UK and Australia and analyses the policy, law and sociology that govern the transition from childhood to adulthood. By examining existing debates on childhood citizenship, the author pursues the claim that childhood is the most heavily governed period of a liberal individual’s life, and argues that childhood is an intensely monitored period that involves a ‘politics of becoming adult’. Drawing upon case studies from the USA, the UK and Australia, this concept is used to critically analyse debates and policy concerning children’s citizenship, criminality, and sexuality. In doing so, the book seeks to uncover what informs and limits how we think about, talk about, and govern children’s rights in liberal societies. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of political science, governance, social policy, ethics, politics of childhood and public policy.