•  517
    Transcending national citizenship or taming it? Ayelet Shachar’s Birthright Lottery
    Les ateliers de l'éthique/The Ethics Forum 7 (2): 9-17. 2012.
    Recent political theory has attempted to unbundle demos and ethnos, and thus citizenship from national identity. There are two possible ways to meet this challenge: by taming the relationship between citizenship and the nation, for example, by defending a form of liberal multicultural nationalism, or by transcending it with a postnational, cosmopolitan conception of citizenship. Both strategies run up against the boundedness of democratic authority. In this paper, I argue that Shachar adresses t…Read more
  •  496
    The original – and often continuing – sin of countries with a settler colonial past is their brutal treatment of indigenous peoples. This challenging legacy continues to confront modern liberal democracies ranging from the USA and Canada to Australia, New Zealand and beyond. Duncan Ivison’s book considers how these states can justly accommodate indigenous populations today. He shows how indigenous movements have gained prominence in the past decade, driving both domestic and international campa…Read more
  •  476
    Decolonizing the Rule of Law: Mabo's case and Postcolonial Constitutionalism
    Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 17 (2): 253-280. 1997.
    Aboriginal claims for self-government in the Americas and Australasia are distinctive for being less about secession—at least so far—than about demanding an innovative rethinking of the regulative norms and institutions within and between already established nation-states. Recent cases in Australia (and Canada) provide an opportunity to consider the nature of such claims, and some of the theoretical implications for regulative conceptions of sovereignty and the rule of law. A general question i…Read more
  •  464
    The Ashgate Research Companion to Multiculturalism brings together a collection of new essays by leading and emerging scholars in the humanities and social sciences on some of the key issues facing multiculturalism today. It provides a comprehensive and cutting-edge treatment of this important and hotly contested field, offering scholars and students a clear account of the leading theories and critiques of multiculturalism that have developed over the past twenty-five years, as well as a sense o…Read more
  •  432
    Postcolonial Liberalism
    Cambridge University Press. 2002.
    Postcolonial Liberalism presents a compelling account of the challenges to liberal political theory by claims to cultural and political autonomy and land rights made by indigenous peoples today. It also confronts the sensitive issue of how liberalism has been used to justify and legitimate colonialism. Ivison argues that there is a pressing need to re-shape liberal thought to become more receptive to indigenous aspirations and modes of being. What is distinctive about the book is the middle way …Read more
  •  431
    Pluralising Political Legitimacy
    Postcolonial Studies 20 (1): 118-130. 2018.
    Does the Australian state exercise legitimate power over the indigenous peoples within its borders? To say that the state’s political decisions are legitimate is to say that it has the right to impose those decisions on indigenous peoples and that they have a (at least a prima facie) duty to obey. In this paper, I consider the general normative frameworks within which these questions are often grasped in contemporary political theory. Two dominant modes of dealing with political legitimacy are t…Read more
  •  421
    Four Conceptions of Liberty as a Political Value
    In Dimitrios Karmis & Jocyn Maclure (eds.), Civic Freedom in an Age of Diversity. pp. 393-411. 2023.
    What would it mean to have a suitably ‘realistic’ account of political liberty? On the one hand, I don’t think we can properly understand liberty without an underlying account of personhood or agency.2 In making sense of liberty, we need to ask: What kind of agency does it presuppose or promote? What kind of independence do we care most about? What does it mean to exercise control, or to be self-guiding, in the kind of world we live in today? At the same time, a conception of moral and political…Read more
  •  405
    Historical Injustice
    In John S. Dryzek, Bonnie Honig & Anne Phillips (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory, Oxford University Press. 2009.
    This article examines the concept of historical injustice in the context of contemporary political theory. It examines the moral consequences of historical injustice for the descendants of both the perpetrators and the victims and outlines the six questions that any plausible defence of the idea of making reparations for past injustices must deal with. It suggests that taking historical injustice seriously is compatible with moral cosmopolitanism and it also helps with the understanding the natu…Read more
  •  391
    Locke, liberalism and empire
    In Peter R. Anstey (ed.), The Philosophy of John Locke: New Perspectives, Routledge. pp. 86--105. 2003.
    What does the 'colonialist' reading of Locke's political theory suggest about the relationship between liberalism and colonialism in general, as well as the pre-history of liberalism in particular?
  •  359
    Why Globalize the Curriculum?
    In Melissa S. Williams (ed.), Deparochializing Political Theory, Cambridge University Press. pp. 273-290. 2020.
    In a world no longer centered on the West, what should political theory become? Although Western intellectual traditions continue to dominate academic journals and course syllabi in political theory, up-and-coming contributions of “comparative political theory” are rapidly transforming the field. Deparochializing Political Theory creates a space for conversation among leading scholars who differ widely in their approaches to political theory. These scholars converge on the belief that we bear a …Read more
  •  359
    Liberal conduct
    History of the Human Sciences 6 (3): 25-59. 1993.
    A philosophical genealogy of the development of liberal 'arts of government' through the work of John Locke and Michel Foucault.
  •  320
    Research Handbook on Liberalism (edited book)
    Edward Elgar Publishing. forthcoming.
    Can liberalism survive? In this edited collection, twenty leading political theorists explore the future and past of liberal political thought. Covering issues such as migration, climate change, the family, multiculturalism, structural injustice, rights, justice, equality, misinformation, illiberalism (and post-liberalism) - amongst others - the essays engage with fundamental normative and conceptual questions, as well as detailed analyses of specific historical and contextual challenges facing…Read more
  •  275
    The central task of this book is to map a subtle but significant addition to the political discourse on liberty since the early modern period; a gradual shift of focus form the individual secure in spheres of non-interference, or acting in accordance with authentic desires and beliefs, to the actions of a self at liberty. Being free stands opposed, classically, to being in someone else’s power, being subject to the will of another – in particular, to being constrained by the intentional actions…Read more
  •  235
    “Another World Is Actual”: Between Imperialism and Freedom
    Political Theory 39 (1): 131-137. 2011.
    There have been two distinctive aspects to James Tully’s approach to the study of imperialism over the years, and both are put to work in these remarkable volumes. The first is his belief in two seemingly contradictory claims: (i) that imperialism is much more pervasive than usually thought (conceptually, historically and practically); and yet (ii) that there are many more forms of resistance to it than usually appreciated. (Part of a symposium in Political Theory on James Tully's 'Public Philos…Read more
  •  222
    In Foundations of Modern International Thought, David Armitage provides a genealogy of the multiple foundations of international political thought. But he also enables political theorists to reflect on the nature of the pluralisation of our concepts: that is, the way various components come together in particular circumstances to form a concept that either becomes dominant or is rendered to the margins. Armitage claims that concepts can ‘never entirely escape their origins’. In this paper I expl…Read more
  •  208
    Multiculturalism and resentment
    In Duncan Ivison & Geoffrey Brahm Levey (eds.), Political Theory and Australian Multiculturalism, Berghan. pp. 129-148. 2008.
    There are two kinds of resentment relevant to the politics of multiculturalism today. 1 The first, which is basically Nietzsche’s conception of ressentiment, occurs under conditions in which people are subject to systematic and structural deprivation of things they want (and need), combined with a sense of powerlessness about being able to do anything about it. It manifests itself in terms of a focused anger or hatred towards that group of people who seem to have everything they want, and yet al…Read more
  •  190
    Democratic Trust and Injustice
    Journal of Social and Political Philosophy 2 (1): 78-94. 2023.
    Trust is a crucial condition for the legitimacy and effectiveness of democratic institutions in conditions of deep diversity and enduring injustices. Liberal democratic societies require forms of engagement and deliberation that require trustful relations between citizens: trust is a necessary condition for securing and sustaining just institutions and practices. Establishing trust is hard when there is a lingering suspicion that the institutions citizens are subject to are illegitimate or under…Read more
  •  171
    Multiculturalism
    In Neil J. Smelser & Paul B. Baltes (eds.), International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences, Pergamon. pp. 10169-75. 2001.
    First published in the International Encyclopaedia of Social and Behavioural Sciences (Pergamon Press, 2001); reprinted in the 2nd edition (2015). An overview of different justifications of multiculturalism in contemporary political theory, as well as various challenges to and critiques of those arguments.
  •  169
    Rights
    Acumen Publishing/Routledge. 2008.
    The language of rights pervades modern social and political discourse and yet there is deep disagreement amongst citizens, politicians and philosophers about just what they mean. Who has them? Who should have them? Who can claim them? What are the grounds upon which they can be claimed? How are they related to other important moral and political values such as community, virtue, autonomy, democracy and social justice? In this book, Duncan Ivison offers a unique and accessible integration of, and…Read more
  •  161
    An exploration of RA Duff's 'communicative theory of punishment' in contexts of deep legal and cultural pluralism.
  •  160
    Justification not Recognition
    Indigenous Law Bulletin 24 (8): 12-18. 2016.
    The debate over the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples is a deeply political one. That might appear to be a controversial claim. After all, there has been much talk about minimising the scope for disagreement between ‘constitutional conservatives’ and supporters of more expansive constitutional recognition. And there is concern to ensure that any potential referendum enjoys the maximum conditions and opportunity for success. However, my argument shall be that any form of constituti…Read more
  •  129
    My aim in this chapter is to take the complexity of our histories of rights as seriously as the nature of rights themselves. Let me say immediately that the point is not to satisfy our sense of moral superiority by smugly pointing out the prejudices found in arguments made over three hundred years ago. We have more than our own share of problems and prejudices to deal with. Rather, in coming to grips with this history, and especially how early-modern political theorists struggled with the extens…Read more
  •  78
    How does empire become transposed onto justice? There are two kinds of question here, one historical the other conceptual, though they are often entwined. First, we may ask whether there are particular arguments about justice that were subsequently used in the justification of empire or colonialism. Or, we may seek to trace the conceptual structure of argu- ments justifying imperialism to their roots in particular philosophical views, debunking their supposed universalism.3 Second, we may ask ab…Read more
  •  69
    The moralism of multiculturalism
    Journal of Applied Philosophy 22 (2): 171-184. 2005.
    Moralism is a frequent charge in politics, and especially in relation to the ‘politics of recognition’. In this essay, I identify three types of moralism — undue abstraction, unjustified moralism and impotent moralism — and then discuss each in relation to recent debates over multiculturalism in liberal political theory. Each of these forms of moralism has featured in interesting ways in recent criticisms of the political theory and public policy of multiculturalism. By ‘multiculturalism’ I mean…Read more
  •  53
    Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (edited book)
    with Paul Patton and Will Sanders
    Cambridge University Press. 2000.
    This challenging book focuses on the problem of justice for indigenous peoples – in philosophical, legal, cultural and political contexts – and the ways in which this problem poses key questions for political theory. It includes chapters by leading political theorists and indigenous scholars from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada and the United States. One of the strengths of this book is the manner in which it shows how the different historical circumstances of colonisation in these count…Read more
  •  37
    Consent or contestation?
    In Jeremy Webber & Colin Mcleod (eds.), Between Consenting Peoples, Ubc Press. pp. 188-206. 2010.
    That consent could wholly explain – either descriptively or normatively – the legitimacy of the structure of political community and it’s most important and influential institutions and practices is deeply implausible. There are two general sorts of considerations adduced against such a proposition. First, history simply refutes it: force is an essential feature of the founding of any political society, and arguably, for its continued existence, and power relations, in all their complexity, are …Read more
  •  34
    Political community and historical injustice
    Australasian Journal of Philosophy 78 (3). 2000.
    This Article does not have an abstract