A Theory of Political Obligation: Membership, Commitment, and the Bonds of Society

Contents......Page 10
Part I. A Central Problem of Political Obligation......Page 12
1.1. The problem......Page 14
1.2. Four distinct questions......Page 29
2.1. The variety of obligations......Page 37
2.2. Initial assumptions about obligation......Page 38
2.3. Directed obligations......Page 46
2.4. Imputed obligations......Page 52
3.1. Desiderata for a theory of political obligation......Page 54
3.2. Some less than promising notions of membership......Page 64
4.1. Actual contract theory......Page 66
4.2. Analytic attractions......Page 68
4.3. Moral attractions......Page 75
5.1. The no-agreement objection......Page 81
5.2. The no-obligation objection......Page 86
5.3. Other objections......Page 94
5.4. Actual contract theory assessed......Page 97
5.5. Some proposed alternatives to actual contract theory......Page 98
Part II. Societies, Membership, and Obligation......Page 102
6.1. Societies as social groups......Page 104
6.2. Acting together: observations......Page 112
6.3. How joint action comes about......Page 127
6.4. The need for a theory......Page 132
7.1. Commitment......Page 136
7.2. Joint commitment......Page 145
7.3. Acting together......Page 157
7.4. Joint commitment and obligation......Page 158
8.1. The range of plural subjects......Page 176
8.2. Plural subjects and common ideas about social groups......Page 178
8.3. Large populations as plural subjects......Page 184
Part III. A Solution to the Membership Problem......Page 194
9.1. Social rules: Hart\'s account......Page 196
9.2. Three issues for an account of social rules......Page 206
9.3. Social rules: a plural subject account......Page 208
9.4. Three forms of political institution......Page 215
10.1. What is an agreement? The joint decision proposal......Page 226
10.2. Agreements and promises as a source of obligation......Page 234
10.3. Moral argument around the promise......Page 238
10.4. Implications for actual contract theory......Page 245
11.1. The theory assessed......Page 249
11.2. Comparison with three related theories......Page 271
11.3. Response to objections......Page 277
11.4. The practical import of political obligations......Page 286
12.1. Summary......Page 298
12.2. Prospect......Page 304
Bibliography......Page 309
A......Page 318
C......Page 321
D......Page 323
E......Page 324
G......Page 325
H......Page 326
J......Page 327
M......Page 329
N......Page 331
O......Page 332
P......Page 334
R......Page 337
S......Page 339
U......Page 342
W......Page 343