The three traditions of political thought.

The first 200 words of this essay...

Assignment # 1

POL 241

Francisco Gallegos Lemos

Student Number: 200127682

January 23, 2004

1. The three traditions of political thought, according to the study guide, are supposed to be mutually exclusive. In Martin Wight's reading each tradition is described and each of them has special characteristics that prove their exclusiveness. For the Revolutionist the main point of their international theory is the "moral unity of the society of states". They describe the international community as cosmopolitan and not internationalist, meaning that all human beings are meant to be together and cooperate without the intervention of any state. In fact, Revolutionists see the state as and obstacle to human unity. One of the principal characteristics of this tradition is its prescriptive character; they want to change what is wrong and achieve a utopia. One of the main differences between this tradition and the other two is that the three historical examples of this tradition are not connected and they are basically separate events triggered by religious and ideological fanaticism. However the sense of "exclusive representativeness" is a constant present in these three Revolutionist cases.

In the middle of the three traditions are the