This fourth edition of The Individual and the Political Order provides a careful, accessible, and reasoned liberal justification for the democratic state and political authority. The central feature of liberalism is the commitment to individual autonomy. The authors show how that commitment provides a defense of democracy, and they give a liberal interpretation to such core values as liberty, equality, and political authority. Although the authors support liberal theory, they also provide a sympathetic treatment of the critics of liberalism. The authors give a sound explanation of such positions as feminist political theory, communitarianism, and postmodernism, but they also argue persuasively that these theories fall short as adequate theories of the political order. A significant feature of the new edition is the treatment of international issues and globalization, particularly the war on terrorism and poverty in the third world.