On the People's Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy

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Cambridge University Press, Dec 6, 2012 - Political Science
According to republican theory, we are free persons to the extent that we are protected and secured in the same fundamental choices, on the same public basis, as one another. But there is no public protection or security without a coercive state. Does this mean that any freedom we enjoy is a superficial good that presupposes a deeper, political form of subjection? Philip Pettit addresses this crucial question in On the People's Terms. He argues that state coercion will not involve individual subjection or domination insofar as we enjoy an equally shared form of control over those in power. This claim may seem utopian but it is supported by a realistic model of the institutions that might establish such democratic control. Beginning with a fresh articulation of republican ideas, Pettit develops a highly original account of the rationale of democracy, breathing new life into democratic theory.
 

Contents

Freedom as nondomination
26
Social justice
75
Political legitimacy
130
Democratic influence
196
Democratic control 739
272
Conclusion The argument in summary
293
References
311
Name index 379
329
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About the author (2012)

Philip Pettit is L. S. Rockefeller University Professor of Politics and Human Values at Princeton University, New Jersey and also Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Australian National University, Canberra. His books include The Common Mind, Republicanism, Rules, Reasons and Norms and Made with Words: Hobbbes on Language, Mind and Politics. Among his recent co-authored books are The Economy of Esteem, with Geoffrey Brennan; A Political Philosophy in Public Life, with Jose Marti; and Group Agency, with Christian List. A collection of papers on his work, Common Minds: Themes from the Philosophy of Philip Pettit, appeared in 2007.

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