Istvan Hont
Encyclopedia
István Hont is a Hungarian-born historian of economics and political thought, University Reader in the History of Political Thought at the University of Cambridge
.
Hont was supervised as a doctoral student at Oxford
by Hugh Trevor Roper. He has been a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
since 1978. From 1978 to 1984 he directed a King's College Research Centre project 'Political Economy and Society 1750–1850' with Michael Ignatieff
, out of which grew their co-edited volume Wealth and Virtue. Hont was invited to be a professor in political thought at Columbia University
, and was a visiting fellow at the Collegium Budapest in 1993–4., but currently remains in Cambridge. He and Raymond Geuss
organized the Cambridge Seminars in Political Thought and Intellectual History for 2007/8, attracting a range of international scholars to participate in the seminar series.
Though Hont's scholarly articles – on such figures as David Hume
and Adam Smith
, and on such themes as the Scottish Enlightenment
, commerce
, nationalism
, national debt, luxury and political economy
– have won awards for breaking new ground, the scope and nature of his overall ambition was difficult to gauge until the articles were collected together in Jealousy of Trade. An extended introduction to Jealousy of Trade emphasized the absence of economic questions in the seventeenth-century thought of Thomas Hobbes
, traced (via Samuel Pufendorf) the eighteenth-century emergence of commerce as a problem for political theory, and used eighteenth-century debates about the interaction of politics and commerce to suggest a new perspective for thinking about economic nationalism
in the nineteenth century and beyond.
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
.
Hont was supervised as a doctoral student at Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
by Hugh Trevor Roper. He has been a Fellow of King's College, Cambridge
King's College, Cambridge
King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college's full name is "The King's College of our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge", but it is usually referred to simply as "King's" within the University....
since 1978. From 1978 to 1984 he directed a King's College Research Centre project 'Political Economy and Society 1750–1850' with Michael Ignatieff
Michael Ignatieff
Michael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
, out of which grew their co-edited volume Wealth and Virtue. Hont was invited to be a professor in political thought at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, and was a visiting fellow at the Collegium Budapest in 1993–4., but currently remains in Cambridge. He and Raymond Geuss
Raymond Geuss
Raymond Geuss , a Professor in the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Cambridge, is a political philosopher and scholar of 19th and 20th century European philosophy.-Life:...
organized the Cambridge Seminars in Political Thought and Intellectual History for 2007/8, attracting a range of international scholars to participate in the seminar series.
Though Hont's scholarly articles – on such figures as David Hume
David Hume
David Hume was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist, known especially for his philosophical empiricism and skepticism. He was one of the most important figures in the history of Western philosophy and the Scottish Enlightenment...
and Adam Smith
Adam Smith
Adam Smith was a Scottish social philosopher and a pioneer of political economy. One of the key figures of the Scottish Enlightenment, Smith is the author of The Theory of Moral Sentiments and An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations...
, and on such themes as the Scottish Enlightenment
Scottish Enlightenment
The Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments. By 1750, Scots were among the most literate citizens of Europe, with an estimated 75% level of literacy...
, commerce
Commerce
While business refers to the value-creating activities of an organization for profit, commerce means the whole system of an economy that constitutes an environment for business. The system includes legal, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological systems that are in operation in any...
, nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
, national debt, luxury and political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
– have won awards for breaking new ground, the scope and nature of his overall ambition was difficult to gauge until the articles were collected together in Jealousy of Trade. An extended introduction to Jealousy of Trade emphasized the absence of economic questions in the seventeenth-century thought of Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes
Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury , in some older texts Thomas Hobbs of Malmsbury, was an English philosopher, best known today for his work on political philosophy...
, traced (via Samuel Pufendorf) the eighteenth-century emergence of commerce as a problem for political theory, and used eighteenth-century debates about the interaction of politics and commerce to suggest a new perspective for thinking about economic nationalism
Economic nationalism
Economic nationalism is a term used to describe policies which emphasize domestic control of the economy, labor and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labor, goods and capital. It opposes globalization in many cases, or at...
in the nineteenth century and beyond.
Works
- (ed. with Michael IgnatieffMichael IgnatieffMichael Grant Ignatieff is a Canadian author, academic and former politician. He was the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011...
) Wealth and Virtue: The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment, Cambridge University Press , 1983. ISBN 0-521-23397-6 - 'Free trade and the economic limits to national politics: neo-Machiavellian political economy reconsidered', in John DunnJohn Dunn (political scientist)John Montfort Dunn is a emeritus Professor of Political Theory at King's College, Cambridge, and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Chiba University, Japan.-Biography:...
(ed.), The Economic Limits to Modern Politics, Cambridge University Press, 1990. - 'The Permanent Crisis of a Divided Mankind: 'Contemporary Crisis of the Nation State' in historical perspective', Political Studies 42 (1994). Reprinted in John Dunn (ed.) Crisis of the Nation State?, 1995, and Hont, Jealousy of Trade, 447-528. Winner in 1994 of the Political Studies AssociationPolitical Studies AssociationThe Political Studies Association of the United Kingdom is an association of political scientists that exists to develop and promote the study of politics in the United Kingdom...
's Harrison Prize for the best paper published in political studies - Jealousy of Trade: International Competition and the Nation-State in Historical Perspective, Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-674-01038-8. Winner in 2007 of the J. David Greenstone Book Prize, awarded by the Politics and History section of the American Political Science AssociationAmerican Political Science AssociationThe American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
, and of the Joseph J. SpenglerJoseph J. SpenglerJoseph John Spengler was an American economist, statistician, and historian of economic thought. A recipient of the 1951 John Frederick Lewis Award of the American Philosophical Society and the 1981 Distinguished Fellow Award from the History of Economics Society, he was Professor Emeritus of...
Best Book Award, sponsored by the History of Economics Society. - 'The Luxury Debate in the Early Enlightenment', in Mark Goldie & Robert Wokler (eds.) The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought, Cambridge University Press, 2006.