The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation

The Principle of Fairness and Political Obligation Synopsis

Current debate has it that a theory of political obligation grounded on the premises of liberal political theory does not exist. Indeed, most theories to date have either produced a set of plausible conditions for the existence of political obligations and then argued that these conditions have not been met, or they have attempted to ground submission to the state on something other than political obligation. In "Fairness and Political Obligation", George Klosko presents a treatment of the issue. In a clear, careful and systematic presentation, he formulates a principal of fairness that specifies a set of conditions which grounds existing political obligations and bridges the gap between the abstract accounts of political principles and the actual beliefs of political actors. He begins with the principle of fairness originally presented in the work of H.L.A. Hart in 1955 and, using the classic examples of national defence and the rule of law, systematically develops this principle into a complete theory of political obligation which he calls "fairness theory".

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