Not In Their Name

Are Citizens Culpable For Their States' Actions?

Bibliographic Data

ID19968094
AuthorsHolly Lawford‐smith (0000-0001-6352-7377, The University of Melbourne, corresponding author), Holly Lawford-Smith (Senior Lecturer in Political Philosophy, University of Melbourne)
Year2019
Pages208
Publication date2019-02-28
Open AccessNo
TypeBOOK
VenueNot in Their Name (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherOxford University PressOxford (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1093/oso/9780198833666.001.0001
OpenAlexW4252605110
Open LibraryOL28710926M
ISBN9780198833666
LanguageEN
Citations received24
References cited41

Given their size and influence, states are able to inflict harm far beyond the reach of a single individual. But there is a great deal of unclarity about exactly who is implicated in that kind of harm, and how we should think about both culpability and responsibility for it. The idea of popular sovereignty is dominant in classical political theory. It is a commonplace assumption that democratic publics both authorize and have control over what their states do; that their states act in their name and on their behalf. Not In Their Name approaches these assumptions from the perspective of social metaphysics, asking whether the state is a collective agent, and whether ordinary citizens are members of that agent. If it is, and they are, there is a clear case for democratic collective culpability. The book explores alternative conceptions of the state and of membership in the state; alternative conceptions of collective agency applied to the state; the normative implications of membership in the state; and both culpability (from the inside) and responsibility (from the outside) for what the state does. Ultimately, Not In Their Name argues for the exculpation of ordinary citizens and the inculpation of those working in public services, and defends a particular distribution of culpability from government to its members

History · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Race, History, and American Society · Terrorism, Counterterrorism, and Political Violence · Citizenship · Moral and ethical aspects

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