Political Science: Political Theory 
Essential
The Law
By Frédéric Bastiat: An English translation of one of Bastiat’s most famous pamphlets, written as part of his opposition to the growth of socialism in France in the 1840s and where he states that “the state is the great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else”.
The Market Economy and the Distribution of Wealth
By Ludwig M. Lachmann: "Everywhere today in the free world we find the opponents of the market economy at a loss for plausible arguments. Of late the “case for central planning” has shed much of its erstwhile luster. We have had too much experience of it. The facts of the last forty years are too eloquent."
Justice and Its Surroundings
By Anthony de Jasay: "As far as we can tell from history, there was little or no “constructed” legal order to support the “market system” when the pace of its development was at its most vigorous. It is as plausible to say that states hindered, undermined, and retarded markets, as that they helped them."
On Property and Government
By John Locke: "Though the earth, and all inferior creatures, be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this no body has any right to but himself."
An Arrow Against All Tyrants
By Richard Overton: "To every individual in nature is given an individual property by nature not to be invaded or usurped by any."
On Liberty
By John Stuart Mill. "The sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection."
The Calculus of Consent
"The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy, by James M. Buchanan and Gordon Tullock, is one of the classic works that founded the subdiscipline of public choice in economics and political science. To this day the Calculus is widely read and cited, and there is still much to be gained from reading and rereading this book."-Robert D. Tollison
Public Choice Theory
By Jane S. Shaw: "Public choice takes the same principles that economists use to analyze people's actions in the marketplace and applies them to people's actions in collective decision making."
The Freedom Philosophy
This anthology includes 14 essays on the political, economic, and moral foundations of a free society. These classic writings by Leonard E. Read, Frank Chodorov, Benjamin Rogge, F. A. Harper, among others, demonstrate the superiority of individual choice and capitalism over any forms of collectivism.
The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns
By Benjamin Constant: "The danger of modern liberty is that, absorbed in the enjoyment of our private independence, and in the pursuit of our particular interests, we should surrender our right to share in political power too easily."
Frederic Bastiat - What is Seen and What is Not Seen
There is only one difference between a bad economist and a good one: the bad economist confines himself to the visible effect; the good economist takes into account both the effect that can be seen and those effects that must be foreseen. Yet this difference is tremendous; for it almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. Whence it follows that the bad economist pursues a small present good that will be followed by a great evil to come, while the good economist pursues a great good to come, at the risk of a small present evil.
The Man versus the State, with Six Essays on Government, Society and Freedom
By Herbert Spencer: "This volume contains the four essays that Spencer published as The Man Versus the State in 1884 as well as five essays added by later publishers. In addition, it provides “The Proper Sphere of Government,” an important early essay by Spencer."
The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted
By Thomas Hodgskin: "In this series of letters to Lord Braugham Hodgskin distinguishes between the natural right of property (based upon Lockean principles of natural law) and the artificial right of property (which is decreed by parliament). He associated the doctrine of the artificial right of property with Benthamite reformers who were attempting to reform the English state."
On Liberty and The Subjection of Women
By John Stuart Mill: "An interesting edition from 1879 which combines On Liberty and The Subjection of Women, something which was not done again until the 1970s when the significance of Mill’s writings on women were again appreciated."
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis
By Ludwig von Mises: "This book must rank as the most devastating analysis of socialism yet penned… . An economic classic in our time." - Henry Hazlitt
The Sphere and Duties of Government
By Wilhelm von Humboldt: "Humboldt explores the role that liberty plays in individual development, discusses criteria for permitting the state to limit individual actions, and suggests ways of confining the state to its proper bounds."
The Two Treatises of Civil Government
By John Locke: "Locke’s most famous work of political philosophy began as a reply to Filmer’s defense of the idea of the divine right of kings and ended up becoming an defense of natural rights, especially property rights, and of government limited to protecting those rights."
Saving Rights Theory From Its Friends
By Tom G. Palmer, from Individual Rights Reconsidered, edited by Tibor Machan (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 2001)
Myths of Individualism
By Tom G. Palmer, Cato Policy Report, Vol. XVIII, No. 5 (September/October 1996)
The Writings of James Madison
"This volume contains his public papers and his private correspondence, including speeches in the First Congress and Address to the General Assembly to the People of the Commonwealth of Virginia."
The Writings of Thomas Paine
"The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances have, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all lovers of mankind are affected, and in the event of which their affections are interested."
On Moral Duties
By Marcus Tullius Cicero: "This treatise, then, may be regarded as an exposition of the ethical system of the Stoics of Cicero’s time, yet with a special limitation, purpose, and adaptation."
Vices Are Not Crimes
By Lysander Spooner: "Vices are simply the errors which a man makes in his search after his own happiness. Unlike crimes, they imply no malice toward others, and no interference with their persons or property."
Recommended
Freedom Properly Understood
By Tom G. Palmer: "Let us hold up a standard of freedom, expressed in clear and precise terms, not modified by misleading adjectives, and promote that standard to the public, in the knowledge that with freedom – because of freedom – we enjoy prosperity, peace, dignity, knowledge, health, and so many other benefits. But as we enjoy the blessings of freedom, let us not confuse those blessings with freedom itself, for on that path we are led to lose both freedom and its blessings."
Are You Now or Have You Ever Been a Libertarian?
By David Boaz: "It’s not only avowed critics of libertarianism who mischaracterize our ideas, but even some friends who offer a subtler critique. They are people who give an overly radical definition of libertarianism so that they can present themselves as the reasonable advocates of limited government, not the crazy libertarians."
Government, Bound or Unbound?
By Anthony de Jasay: "Collective choice starts where unanimity ends, and involves some deciding for all, where the “some” control the apparatus of government. It is the potential for some to benefit morally and materially at the expense of others that creates the bone of contention and that limits on government are meant to move out of reach."
Pigs Don't Fly: The Economic Way of Thinking about Politics
By Russell Roberts: "Politicians are just like the rest of us. They find it hard to do the right thing. They claim to have principles, but when their principles clash with what is expedient, they often find a way to justify their self-interest."
Democracy and Other Failures
By Doug Campbell: "The theory of public choice helps explain why we get stuck with so many bad economic policies. Or does it?"
The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies
By Bryan Caplan: "In theory, democracy is a bulwark against socially harmful policies. In practice, however, democracies frequently adopt and maintain policies that are damaging. How can this paradox be explained?"
Two Kinds of Order
John Marks suggests "that the fundamental differences between liberal and socialist societies arise because liberal societies depend primarily on evolutionary rationalism and spontaneous order, whereas the structures of socialist societies take constructive rationalism and designated order as their model."
Unintended Consequences
By Rob Norton: "The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people - especially of government - always have effects that are unanticipated or "unintended." Economists and other social scientists have heeded its power for centuries; for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it."
Libertarianism: A Primer
David Boaz presents the essential guidebook to the libertarian perspective, detailing its roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and future in American politics. He confronts head-on the tough questions frequently posed to libertarians: What about inequality? Who protects the environment? What ties people together if they are essentially self interested? A concluding section, "Are you a Libertarian?" gives readers a chance to explore the substance of their own beliefs. Libertarianism is must reading for understanding one of the most exciting and hopeful movements of our time.
The Nanny State
"Today, conservatives on the right tend to want to pass laws regarding which drugs we ingest, what we do in our bedrooms, which pictures we look at, which movies we watch, and which music we listen to. At the same time, modern liberal public health advocates on the left want to heavily regulate what we eat; how food is grown, manufactured, marketed, and sold; our alcohol intake; which prescription drugs we should have access to; and what products are safe enough for us to use. Neither side has much respect for the idea that most Americans are capable of making these kinds of decisions for themselves."
Anarchy Unbound, or: Why Self-Governance Works Better than You Think
By Peter T. Leeson. "Empirical evidence, past and present, sheds light on how individuals under anarchy develop private institutional solutions to address the problems that statelessness presents," Leeson writes. "The guiding force behind these solutions is none other than Adam Smith's 'Invisible hand.' Importantly, Smith's principle applies not only to individuals' activities in the context of well-functioning institutions, but also to their activities in the development of institutions themselves."