On the People's Terms

A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID23185386
AuthorsPhilip Pettit (0000-0002-0355-3896, Princeton University, corresponding author)
Year2012
Publication date2012-12-06
Open AccessYes
TypeBOOK
Reviewed byOn the People's Terms: A Republican Theory and Model of Democracy, Yann Allard-Tremblay, 2015
VenueOn the People's Terms (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherCambridge University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1017/cbo9781139017428
OpenAlexW4252817106
Open LibraryOL34483304M
ISBN9781139017428
LanguageEN
Citations received621

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.

Sociology · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Democracy · History & Theory · Human beings · Humanism · Philosophical anthropology · Philosophy · Political science · Republicanism · The State

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