A rich analysis of Spinoza`s key works, in the context of his political and ideological associations.
With Hobbes and Locke, Spinoza is arguably one of the most important political philosophers of the modern era, a premier theoretician of democracy and mass politics. In this revised and augmented English translation of his 1985 classic, Spinoza et la Politique, Etienne Balibar presents a synoptic account of Spinoza`s major works, admirably demonstrating relevance to his contemporary political life.

Balibar carefully situates Spinoza`s major treatises in the period in which they were written. In successive chapters, he examines the political situation in the United Provinces during Spinoza`s lifetime, Spinoza`s own religious and ideological associations, the concept of democracy developed in the Theologico-Political Treatise, the theory of the state advanced in the Political Treatise and the anthropological basis for politics established in the Ethics.