Topic · Political Philosophy and Ethics
Most cited papers in Political Philosophy and Ethics
What are the most cited papers in Political Philosophy and Ethics?
The most cited paper in Political Philosophy and Ethics is "Inequity In Social Exchange" (J. Stacy Adams, 1965), with 10,688 citations. Next come "Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy" (7,088) and "The Tragedy of the Commons*" (6,410).
Showing 50 of 99 papers. Every paper with more than 551 citations is listed.
| # | Paper | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inequity In Social Exchange J. Stacy Adams · Advances in experimental social psychology | 1965 | 10,688 |
| 2 | Some Social Requisites of Democracy: Economic Development and Political Legitimacy Seymour Martin Lipset · American Political Science Review | Mar 1959 | 7,088 |
| 3 | The Tragedy of the Commons* Garrett Hardin · Journal of Natural Resources Policy Research | Jul 2009 | 6,410 |
| 4 | The Calculus of Consent: Logical Foundations of Constitutional Democracy. James Edward Meade, J. M. Buchanan, Gordon Tullock · The Economic Journal | Mar 1963 | 3,471 |
| 5 | Equity, Equality, and Need: What Determines Which Value Will Be Used as the Basis of Distributive Justice? Morton Deutsch · Journal of Social Issues | Jul 1975 | 2,784 |
| 6 | CAPABILITIES AS FUNDAMENTAL ENTITLEMENTS: SEN AND SOCIAL JUSTICE Martha C. Nussbaum · Feminist Economics | 2003 | 2,504 |
| 7 | When Morality Opposes Justice: Conservatives Have Moral Intuitions that Liberals may not Recognize Jonathan Haidt, Jesse Graham · Social Justice Research | 23 May 2007 | 2,192 |
| 8 | Covenants with and without a Sword: Self-Governance Is Possible Элинор Остром, James M. Walker, Roy Gardner · American Political Science Review | Jun 1992 | 2,126 |
| 9 | Libertarian Paternalism Richard H. Thaler, Cass Robert Sunstein · American Economic Review | Apr 2003 | 1,873 |
| 10 | Anarchy and the limits of cooperation: a realist critique of the newest liberal institutionalism Joseph M. Grieco · International Organization | 1988 | 1,657 |
| 11 | Sovereign Virtue: The Theory and Practice of Equality Wayne D. Moore · Political Science Quarterly | 2001 | 1,647 |
| 12 | Equality and Efficiency: The Big Tradeoff Russell Keat · Philosophical Books | 1980 | 1,597 |
| 13 | The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups, by Mancur Olson Earl G. Latham · Political Science Quarterly | Mar 1967 | 1,561 |
| 14 | Relational Autonomy: Feminist Perspectives on Autonomy, Agency, and the Social Self Catriona Mackenzie, Natalie Stoljar | 27 Jan 2000 | 1,426 |
| 15 | Deliberative Democracy or Agonistic Pluralism? Chantal Mouffe | 6 Jan 2026 | 1,297 |
| 16 | The Limits of Liberty. Between Anarchy and Leviathan. G. D. N. Worswick, J. M. Buchanan · The Economic Journal | Mar 1976 | 1,281 |
| 17 | Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Introduction Jonathan Wolff · Philosophical Books | 1992 | 1,233 |
| 18 | Democracy and Disagreement Alain Boyer · Ratio Juris | Mar 1995 | 1,214 |
| 19 | SEN'S CAPABILITY APPROACH AND GENDER INEQUALITY: SELECTING RELEVANT CAPABILITIES Ingrid Robeyns · Feminist Economics | 2003 | 1,176 |
| 20 | An agenda for the study of institutions Элинор Остром · Public Choice | 1986 | 1,172 |
| 21 | RESPONSIBILITY AND GLOBAL JUSTICE: A SOCIAL CONNECTION MODEL Iris Marion Young · Social Philosophy and Policy | 2006 | 1,139 |
| 22 | Liberalism and World Politics Michael William Doyle · American Political Science Review | Dec 1986 | 1,134 |
| 23 | Treating International Institutions as Social Environments Alastair Iain Johnston · International Studies Quarterly | Dec 2001 | 1,133 |
| 24 | Alienation, Consequentialism, and the Demands of Morality (1984) Peter Railton · Cambridge University Press eBooks | 17 Mar 2003 | 1,108 |
| 25 | On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation Bernard Manin · Political Theory | Aug 1987 | 1,103 |
| 26 | Ideal vs. Non‐ideal Theory: A Conceptual Map Laura Valentini · Philosophy Compass | 22 Aug 2012 | 1,081 |
| 27 | From Apology to Utopia: The Structure of International Legal Argument Vaughan Lowe, Martti Koskenniemi · Journal of Law and Society | 1990 | 1,076 |
| 28 | What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets Michael J. Sandel | 2012 | 1,067 |
| 29 | Liberalism, Community, and Culture. By Will Kymlicka. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. 280p. $38.00. Robert Byron Thigpen · American Political Science Review | Dec 1990 | 1,066 |
| 30 | Ideal and Nonideal Theory A. John Simmons · Philosophy & Public Affairs | 2010 | 1,034 |
| 31 | ‘Delegation and Accountability in Parliamentary Democracies' Antonino Palumbo, Richard Bellamy | 2 Mar 2017 | 1,009 |
| 32 | Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy Iris Marion Young · Political Theory | Oct 2001 | 1,000 |
| 33 | The Humean Theory of Motivation Michael Smith · Mind | 1987 | 999 |
| 34 | Survey Article: Recipes for Public Spheres: Eight Institutional Design Choices and Their Consequences Archon Fung · Journal of Political Philosophy | 4 Aug 2003 | 997 |
| 35 | The Ethics of Care: Personal, Political, and Global Joan Cocks · Perspectives on Politics | 28 Nov 2006 | 995 |
| 36 | Contractualism and utilitarianism Т. М. Scanlon · Cambridge University Press eBooks | 10 Jun 1982 | 981 |
| 37 | Reciprocity: The Supply of Public Goods Through Voluntary Contributions Robert Sugden · The Economic Journal | Dec 1984 | 979 |
| 38 | Distributive Justice, State Coercion, and Autonomy Michael Blake · Philosophy & Public Affairs | Jul 2001 | 976 |
| 39 | The Concept of Representation in Contemporary Democratic Theory Nadia Urbinati, Mark E. Warren · Annual Review of Political Science | 21 May 2008 | 954 |
| 40 | Policy Paradox and Political Reason. By Deborah A. Stone. Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Little, Brown, 1988. 316p. $10.50 paper. B. Guy Peters · American Political Science Review | Mar 1989 | 942 |
| 41 | An Egalitarian Law of Peoples Thomas W Pogge · Philosophy & Public Affairs | Jul 1994 | 900 |
| 42 | Identifying reference and truth‐values Peter Frederick Strawson · Theoria | Aug 1964 | 889 |
| 43 | Two Treatises of Government, by John Locke, Peter Laslett Rosalie Littell Colie · Political Science Quarterly | Jun 1961 | 879 |
| 44 | Which Is the Fairest One of All? A Positive Analysis of Justice Theories James Konow · Journal of Economic Literature | Nov 2003 | 875 |
| 45 | The Right to the City: Social Justice and the Fight for Public Space Robert A. Beauregard · Annals of the Association of American Geographers | Jun 2004 | 861 |
| 46 | The Capability Approach in Practice* Ingrid Robeyns · Journal of Political Philosophy | 8 Aug 2006 | 834 |
| 47 | Where the Action Is: On the Site of Distributive Justice Gerald Allan Cohen · Philosophy & Public Affairs | 1997 | 823 |
| 48 | The Rejection of Consequentialism ELIZABETH TELLER · Philosophical Books | Jul 1983 | 821 |
| 49 | The impossibility of moral responsibility Galen Strawson · Philosophical Studies | Aug 1994 | 816 |
| 50 | Objectivity and Truth: You'd Better Believe It Ronald M. Dworkin · Philosophy & Public Affairs | Apr 1996 | 810 |
Citations are OpenAlex's own counts, from its 2026-09-23 snapshot, so the ranking can differ from Google Scholar or Web of Science. A paper is listed for a field when OpenAlex files it under one of the field's topics; retracted papers and papers whose citation count cannot be traced to citing works are left out, and a preprint and the article it became are shown once. Release dates are OpenAlex's: where a source gave only a month or a year, that is what is shown. How the lists are chosen.