01 · Knowledge Atlas
Switch to graph viewAn encyclopedia of social systems
Theories, political philosophies, economic models, institution types and forms of self-government — each idea traced through theory, real examples, critique and results.
All entries · A–Z
- James C. ScottThinkerPolitical scientist and anthropologist who studied how states make societies legible and how people evade state control.
- James M. BuchananThinkerAmerican economist, founder of the Virginia school of public choice; with Gordon Tullock wrote The Calculus of Consent (1962); Nobel laureate in economics 1986.
- James MadisonThinkerAmerican statesman and fourth US president; principal architect of the 1787 Constitution and author of Federalist No. 10, which argued that a large republic can better control the effects of faction.
- James S. FishkinThinkerAmerican political scientist at Stanford who devised deliberative polling, a method that combines random samples of citizens with structured deliberation.
- Jean-Jacques RousseauThinkerGenevan philosopher whose Social Contract (1762) argued that a state is legitimate only if guided by the general will of its members, and that sovereignty cannot be represented.
- John LockeThinkerEnglish philosopher who grounded legitimate government in consent and natural rights, and defended a right to resist rulers who violate the trust placed in them.
- John RawlsThinkerAmerican philosopher whose A Theory of Justice (1971) revived social-contract theory and set out justice as fairness, including the original position and the difference principle.
- John Stuart MillThinkerEnglish philosopher and political economist who defended individual liberty against both state and social coercion, and argued for representative government that protects minorities.
- Jürgen HabermasThinkerGerman philosopher of the Frankfurt School's second generation; theorist of the public sphere, communicative action and a discourse theory of law and democracy.