POL SCI 4 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Sovereign People, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Liberal Democracy
10 Feb 2017
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
R: putting self interest at the heart of government requires giving up self rule (legislation, interpreting laws by the judiciary, executing laws by the executive branch) No we , no freely giving ourselves rules. Unless you have a certain common founding, there is no unity, conditions. In sum: liberal democracy erases political freedom same for all . Against rule by special interests, against institutions from existing classes of power. Legislating principles that govern us (not every law) Rousseau: moves this principle to a collective level. Seems to propose total subordination to community and forced participation. R says that we are unfree because (1) no self rule (2) enmeshed in powers we don"t know or don"t control (3) we do not share common experience > difficult to come together. Common me/ ego > public will (vs. individual i ) Rousseau aware of the individuality and thinks it destroys f, willing to leave i in domains that do not concern politics.
