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Contemporary Republican Strategies for 'Civic Virtue' and the Notion Of Contemporary Republican Strategies for ‘Civic Virtue’ and the Notion of Political Obligation By Laura Andronache Submitted to Central European University Department of Political Science In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy PHD DEFENSE COMMITTEE: CEU eTD Collection Petr Lom (Supervisor) János Kis, Professor, Central European University Iseult Honohan, Senior Lecturer, University College Dublin BUDAPEST, HUNGARY JUNE 2009 I hereby declare that this work contains no materials accepted for any other degrees in any other institutions. This thesis contains no materials previously written and/or published by another person unless otherwise noted. CEU eTD Collection 2 Abstract Can we make successful normative arguments for enhanced participation in public life? Contemporary republican theories propose to do just that, and thus to incorporate elements of radical democracy in a liberal-democratic political framework, without exacting too high costs on individual freedom, sliding into oppressiveness or coming too close to liberal arguments. This dissertation enables us to explore the basic republican idea that individual freedom is dependent on citizens’ civic engagement in public life. By assessing contemporary republican themes and arguments of different varieties, I hope to determine republicanism’s normative salience and claim to distinctiveness. That is a simplification, for there is no single republican argument but a multitude of different strategies in arguing for some form of enhanced engagement in public life, from contestation of political decisions that do not track individuals’ interests to participation in diffuse deliberative fora of civil society. My aim is not to develop or reconstruct an institutional theory of republicanism, but to discern the normative arguments behind a republican political morality. It becomes apparent from my analysis that it is not to the notion of freedom as non- domination or the common good expressed in the form of national identity that we should look for normative support of a republican argument. Instead, the notion of participation in public deliberations on matters of shared concern, as the way to preserve the ‘justificatory’ character of a reasonably just democratic community emerges as the most salient form of republican ‘civic virtue’. I further argue that the most promising way to promote a republican theory along these lines is to construct an argument for republican political obligation that entails the obligations to deliberate, to do so from public reason, and to endorse a redistributive notion of equality. If republicanism is to be taken seriously, it needs to present a normative argument for the specific obligations that it promotes. Finally, I argue that a notion of political obligation understood in this thick, republican way could be justified as a form of role obligation constructed around the role of citizen in a reasonably just democratic society. By constructing a notion of political obligation from a republican perspective, we hope to contribute an overall normative justification to contemporary republican arguments. CEU eTD Collection 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Petr Lom who has supported me invariably throughout this journey. I thank him for his generosity and guidance. I would also like to thank János Kis without whose invaluable guidance I would not have been able to bring this to completion. His comments in the final legs of this project have been crucial in helping me stay on track. Special thanks to David Miller for his feedback and encouragement. Professor Kis’ courses at CEU have provided me with the best opportunity to learn the importance of disciplined thinking and his critical suggestions have helped steer my work. Professor Miller who supervised my research at the Nuffield College, University of Oxford during the academic year 2004/2005 has helped me a great deal in finding the right path in my argument, while also making me feel welcome at the stimulating Nuffield Political Theory Workshop during my stay there as a visiting student. I would particularly like to thank Iseult Honohan who has supported and encouraged me in the past and who was generous to agree to sit on the defense committee on very short notice. I am grateful for the financial and logistical support that CEU has provided me. Without the university’s support, my study abroad as well as participation in many of the stimulating conferences I presented at, which helped improve my work, would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the United Kingdom’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office for having covered part of the funding for my research at the Oxford University. I would like to thank in particular the Political Science Department at CEU for their support and encouragements. Finally, my thanks go to Filip for his stubborn support. CEU eTD Collection 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1: INSTRUMENTAL REPUBLICANISM AND FREEDOM AS NON-DOMINATION ........21 1.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 21 1.2 Instrumental republicanism: a bird’s eye view .......................................................................................... 23 1.3 A rich constitutional order ........................................................................................................................... 27 1.4 Freedom as non-domination......................................................................................................................... 29 1.5 Republican community................................................................................................................................. 49 1.6 A republican theory of civic virtue vs. a liberal theory of civic virtue ..................................................... 62 1.7 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 2: A NATIONAL IDENTITY REPUBLICANISM AND INITIAL IDEAS ON THE NOTION OF POLITICAL OBLIGATION....................................................................................................................... 67 2.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................... 67 2.2 Republican citizenship .................................................................................................................................. 70 2.3 National identity............................................................................................................................................ 81 2.4 Republican citizenship and national identity.............................................................................................. 92 2.5 A case for civic patriotism ............................................................................................................................ 99 2.6 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 102 CHAPTER 3: DELIBERATIVE REPUBLICANISM AND THE NOTION OF SELF-GOVERNMENT105 3.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 105 3.2 Why Habermas?.......................................................................................................................................... 106 3.3 Jürgen Habermas and republicanism ....................................................................................................... 111 CEU eTD Collection 3.4 A feasible theory?........................................................................................................................................ 114 3.5 Republicanism, public reason and deliberation ....................................................................................... 124 CHAPTER 4: REPUBLICAN POLITICAL OBLIGATION- A JUSTIFICATION...................................149 4.1 Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 149 4.2 Arguments against political obligation...................................................................................................... 153 5 4.3 Is political obligation the right concept for republicanism: considering objections.............................. 156 4.4 An outline of associative obligations.......................................................................................................... 169 4.5 Republican political obligation as a role obligation: a justification........................................................ 176 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................................194 BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................................................................199 CEU eTD Collection 6 Introduction Contemporary republicanism challenges liberalism as political doctrine
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