Active and Passive Citizens (eBook)

A Defense of Majoritarian Democracy

Richard Tuck (Autor)

Stephen Macedo (Herausgeber)

eBook Download: EPUB

2024
208 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-24280-4 (ISBN)

Infos

A powerful case for why majority rulenot representationis the defining feature of democratic politicsThe idea that democratic governance rests on active self-rule by citizens plays surprisingly little part in current theories of democracy, which instead stress the importance of representation by elected, appointed, or randomly selected bodies such as legislatures, courts, and juries. This would have astonished eighteenth-century theorists of democracy, who viewed universal suffrage and majoritarian voting as the sole criteria for democratic politics. Active and Passive Citizens defends the view of these earlier thinkers, asserting that individual agency is the very essence of democracy.In this provocative and lucidly argued book, Richard Tuck draws on the distinction made by the Abbe Sieyes, a leading political theorist of the French Revolution, between ';active' citizens (the electorate) and ';passive' ones (those who are represented by the institutions of the state). Tuck traces our current representative view of democracy to Sieyes and contrasts him with Rousseau, a theorist of active self-rule by the people. Tuck argues that modern theories of democracy have effectively turned us into passive citizens and calls for a renewal of a majoritarian democracy that realizes the full potential of active citizenship.Based on the prestigious Tanner Lectures delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values, Active and Passive Citizens is edited and introduced by Stephen Macedo and includes commentary by political theorists Simone Chambers, Joshua Cohen, John Ferejohn, and Melissa Schwartzberg.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 30.4.2024
• Reihe/Serie: The University Center for Human Values Series
• Reihe/Serie: The University Center for Human Values Series
• Co-Autor: Simone Chambers, Joshua Cohen, John Ferejohn, Melissa Schwartzberg
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Systeme
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Politische Theorie
• Themenwelt: Sozialwissenschaften ► Politik / Verwaltung ► Staat / Verwaltung
• Schlagworte: active citizenship • active democracy • American Political Science Association • association for political theory • authorization • Center for Human Values • Citizen • Citizenship • Civil Rights • Constitution • Democracy • Democratic Politics • Democrats • despotism • Election Day • Elections • Electorate • Free Riding • Government • Hobbes • John Ferejohn • Joshua Cohen • Karl Marx • law & society association • legal rights • majoritarian • Majoritarian democracy • Melissa Schwarzberg • Natural Rights Theories • Philosophy and Government • Political History • Political Ideologies • Political Structures • Political thought • president who would not be king • Princeton University • private government • Representation • Republicans • Rousseau • Rousseau’s misogyny • Senate • sieyes • Simone Chambers • Stephen Macedo • Suffrage • Supreme Court • Tanner Lectures • The Rights of War and Peace • The Sleeping Sovereign • Tuck’s Democracy • Voting • Voting rights • voting system • what is political philosophy? In the shadow of justice • will of majority
• ISBN-10: 0-691-24280-1 / 0691242801
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-24280-4 / 9780691242804