From Non-Domination to Self-Governance: Rethinking Republican Political Theory

Abstract

This thesis develops the foundations for alternative account of republican political theory that is based not on non-domination, but on the value of self-governance. I show, first, that standard accounts of republican political theory face an apparent inconsistency insofar as they aim exclusively to realise non-domination despite being grounded in a commitment to the value of self-governance, which, therefore, prima facie ought to feature in them. Consequently, my thesis pursues two aims: First, constructively, it considers what it would mean to take seriously fundamental standard republican commitment to ensuring that persons are able to exercise self-governance and, thereby, develops the foundations for a self-governance-based account of republican political theory. Second, critically, it demonstrates that seemingly promising standard republican objections to this new account of republican political theory fail. The result is a compelling argument for a normative re-orientation of republican political theory around the value of ensuring that people are able to exercise self-governance. Not only does the proposed self-governance-based account of republican political theory not face the same inconsistency as its standard republican counterparts, but it is also more philosophically potent than the latter, and an attractive account of political theory in its own right. Chapter 2 shows that standard republicans base their commitment to non-domination on the value of enabling persons to exercise self-governance and, therefore, establishes the puzzle that this thesis engages with. Chapter 3 develops an account of self-governance that constitutes an appropriate basis for an alternative account of republican political theory, that is, an account that is both distinctly republican and plausible independently of whether we subscribe to republican commitments. Based on this new account of self-governance, Chapters 4, then, considers both what aims a self-governance-based republican state would have to pursue, as well as the constraints it would have to place on the exercise of state power. Finally, Chapter 5 considers and disarms standard republican objections to self-governance-based republican political theory.

Date of Award	18 Jul 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The University of Manchester
Supervisor	Liam Shields (Main Supervisor) & Christian Schemmel (Co Supervisor)