i have also tried to strike a balance between laying out the contrasting positions that have been taken up on these issues, and presenting arguments of my own. My aim is to explain what is at issue when anarchists argue with statists, democrats argue with elitists, liberals argue with authoritarians, nationalists argue with cosmopolitans, and so on, but it would be disingenuous to claim that i am surveying these debates form some entirely neutral, Olympian perspective. One can't write about political philosophy without doing it as well. So although i have tried not to browbeat the reader into thinking that there is only one plausible answer to some of the most fiercely contested questions of our time, i have not attempted to disguise my sympathies either. Where you disagree with me, I hope you will find the reason on your side of the argument fairly presented. Of course, I hope even more that you will be convinced by the reasons on my side.