The Consent Theory of Political Obligation

The Consent Theory of Political Obligation PDF Author: Harry Beran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000704726
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

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Book Description
First published in 1987. The theory that political obligation and authority are derived from the consent of citizens is commonly accepted in the history of Western political thought. It is expressed in the famous assertion of the American Declaration of Independence that governments derive ‘their just powers from the consent of the governed’ and in the constitutions of some Western powers. This book provides the first systematic and comprehensive restatement and defence of consent theory since the 19th Century. It distinguishes consent from contract theory, examines what the actual consent of citizens can consist in and what place it must have in liberal democratic theory. The consent theory’s relationship with ethics is explored and the major objections to the theory are countered. The author points to some political reforms which would increase the proportion of citizens in liberal democracies whose consent places them under political obligation. The book provides an overview of the current state of the consent theory of political obligation and authority.

The Consent Theory of Political Obligation

The Consent Theory of Political Obligation PDF Author: Harry Beran
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000704726
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 231

Get Book Here

Book Description
First published in 1987. The theory that political obligation and authority are derived from the consent of citizens is commonly accepted in the history of Western political thought. It is expressed in the famous assertion of the American Declaration of Independence that governments derive ‘their just powers from the consent of the governed’ and in the constitutions of some Western powers. This book provides the first systematic and comprehensive restatement and defence of consent theory since the 19th Century. It distinguishes consent from contract theory, examines what the actual consent of citizens can consist in and what place it must have in liberal democratic theory. The consent theory’s relationship with ethics is explored and the major objections to the theory are countered. The author points to some political reforms which would increase the proportion of citizens in liberal democracies whose consent places them under political obligation. The book provides an overview of the current state of the consent theory of political obligation and authority.

Liberal Loyalty

Liberal Loyalty PDF Author: Anna Stilz
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691139148
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Drawing on Kant, Rousseau, and Habermas, Stilz argues that we owe civic obligations to the state if it is sufficiently just, and that constitutionally enshrined principles of justice in themselves are grounds for obedience to our particular state and for democratic solidarity with our fellow citizens.

Political Obligation

Political Obligation PDF Author: Richard E. Flathman
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000706842
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
"Under what conditions are obedience and disobedience required or justified? To what or whom is obedience or disobedience owed? What are the differences between authority and power and between legitimate and illegitimate government? What is the relationship between having an obligation and having freedom to act? What are the similarities and differences among political, legal, and moral obligations?..." Originally published in 1972, Professor Flathman discusses these crucial issues in political theory in a lucid and stimulating argument. Though mainly concerned to develop his own modified utilitarian standing point he also reviews both the classical and modern literature from Plato and Hobbes to Hare and Rawls. The treatment is philosophical but it is frequently related to practical issues of civil obedience and disobedience and in particular focuses on the relation between law, obligation and social change.

Consent, Freedom and Political Obligation

Consent, Freedom and Political Obligation PDF Author: John Petrov Plamenatz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Consensus (Social sciences)
Languages : en
Pages : 194

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Book Description


Moral Principles and Political Obligations

Moral Principles and Political Obligations PDF Author: A. John Simmons
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691213240
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Outlining the major competing theories in the history of political and moral philosophy--from Locke and Hume through Hart, Rawls, and Nozick--John Simmons attempts to understand and solve the ancient problem of political obligation. Under what conditions and for what reasons (if any), he asks, are we morally bound to obey the law and support the political institutions of our countries?

The Problem of Political Obligation

The Problem of Political Obligation PDF Author: Carole Pateman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780520056503
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
00 Pateman examines the notion of political obligation in relation to the liberal democratic state and presents a vision of participatory democracy as a means to effect a more satisfactory relationship between the citizen and the state. She offers a general assessment of liberal theory and an interpretation of all familiar arguments about political obligation and democratic consent. Pateman examines the notion of political obligation in relation to the liberal democratic state and presents a vision of participatory democracy as a means to effect a more satisfactory relationship between the citizen and the state. She offers a general assessment of liberal theory and an interpretation of all familiar arguments about political obligation and democratic consent.

Political Obligation in Its Historical Context

Political Obligation in Its Historical Context PDF Author: John Dunn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521891592
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
Mr Dunn addresses the central questions of political philosophy from an unusually broad variety of perspectives.

The Duty to Obey the Law

The Duty to Obey the Law PDF Author: William Atkins Edmundson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 9780847692552
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description
The question, 'Why should I obey the law?' introduces a contemporary puzzle that is as old as philosophy itself. The puzzle is especially troublesome if we think of cases in which breaking the law is not otherwise wrongful, and in which the chances of getting caught are negligible. Philosophers from Socrates to H.L.A. Hart have struggled to give reasoned support to the idea that we do have a general moral duty to obey the law but, more recently, the greater number of learned voices has expressed doubt that there is any such duty, at least as traditionally conceived. The thought that there is no such duty poses a challenge to our ordinary understanding of political authority and its legitimacy. In what sense can political officials have a right to rule us if there is no duty to obey the laws they lay down? Some thinkers, concluding that a general duty to obey the law cannot be defended, have gone so far as to embrace philosophical anarchism, the view that the state is necessarily illegitimate. Others argue that the duty to obey the law can be grounded on the idea of consent, or on fairness, or on other ideas, such as community.

A Theory of Political Obligation

A Theory of Political Obligation PDF Author: Margaret Gilbert
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199274959
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 343

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Book Description
Margaret Gilbert offers an incisive new approach to a classic problem of political philosophy: when and why should I do what the laws of my country tell me to do? Beginning with carefully argued accounts of social groups in general and political societies in particular, the author argues that in central, standard senses of the relevant terms membership in a political society in and of itself obligates one to support that society's political institutions. The obligations in questionare not moral requirements derived from general moral principles, as is often supposed, but a matter of one's participation in a special kind of commitment: joint commitment. An agreement is sufficient but not necessary to generate such a commitment. Gilbert uses the phrase 'plural subject' to referto all of those who are jointly committed in some way. She therefore labels the theory offered in this book the plural subject theory of political obligation.The author concentrates on the exposition of this theory, carefully explaining how and in what sense joint commitments obligate. She also explores a classic theory of political obligation --- actual contract theory --- according to which one is obligated to conform to the laws of one's country because one agreed to do so. She offers a new interpretation of this theory in light of a theory of plural subject theory of agreements. She argues that actual contract theory has more merit than has beenthought, though the more general plural subject theory is to be preferred. She compares and contrasts plural subject theory with identification theory, relationship theory, and the theory of fair play. She brings it to bear on some classic situations of crisis, and, in the concluding chapter,suggests a number of avenues for related empirical and moral inquiry.Clearly and compellingly written, A Theory of Political Obligation will be essential reading for political philosophers and theorists.

Political Obligations

Political Obligations PDF Author: George Klosko
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780199256204
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
Providing a full defence of the theory of political obligation George Klosko presents arguments based on a number of key principles, as well as commenting on popular attitudes and how the state views them.