1/18/23

The author places himself in a long tradition of republican thought ranging from Cicero to Machiavelli and Locke. In doing so he refers particularly often to the work of Quentin Skinner, so the historical presentation given in this book might be particularly illuminating for readers who have read Skinner’s works.

But the ”republicanism” which the author presents in this book is a theory for the modern world. The gist of the theory is that ”freedom” should preferably be understood as non-domination, or the absence of the possibility of interference by arbitrary powers. The author contrasts this with interpretations where ”freedom” is interpreted more simply as non-interference, and discusses the differences between these two interpretations at some length in the early chapters of the book.

In this first comparison my impression was that the differences between these two theories of freedom are quite insignificant nuances. The author works on the borderline between non-domination and non-interference at some length to motivate the most important differences, but the two concepts still exhibit much overlap. However, in the latter parts of the book where the author discusses how political institutions could be set up to ensure government without the possibility of arbitrary interference, the contrast between the two becomes more insightful.

The second part of the book is in fact one of the best discussion of democratic political institutions that I have read. I particularly liked the author’s caution with regard to how much theorizing should be done without empirical support, and the emphasis he placed on simple things such as committees. Government is, after all, groups of people discussing, agreeing and disagreeing. All in all this is an original book. Together with Skinner’s historical works and the author’s own subsequent works on republican theory, it provides a deep and multifaceted picture of democratic politics and institutions that may serve to protect it.