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18Engaging Political Philosophy: An Introduction, written by Robert B. TalisseJournal of Moral Philosophy 15 (4): 479-482. 2018.
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17Reading (and Misreading) Rawls’s Theory of LegitimacySouthwest Philosophy Review 22 (1): 149-161. 2006.
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1The Democratic Peace is Not Democratic: On Behalf of Rawls' Decent SocietiesPolitical Studies 57 (3): 617-638. 2009.In The Law of Peoples, John Rawls defends the claim that ‘decent’ societies (non-liberal, non-democratic constitutional republics) deserve full and good standing in the international community. His defense of decent societies consists of two main arguments. First, he argues that the basic human right to political participation does not imply a right to democratic political institutions. This argument has been thoroughly discussed by commentators. Second, he argues that decent societies, if admit…Read more
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10Rawls’s Decent Peoples and the Democratic Peace ThesisSocial Philosophy Today 20 137-153. 2004.In The Law of Peoples, Rawls defends the stability of his proposed international order with the democratic peace thesis. But he fails to extend this thesis to decent peoples, which is curious, since they are a non-temporary feature of his law of peoples. This opens Rawls’s proposal to certain objections, which I argue can be met once we understand fully the nature of the democratic peace. Nevertheless, there is reason to worry about the stability of Rawls’s proposed international order. This wor…Read more
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6Coercion and the State (edited book)Springer Verlag. 2008.A signal feature of legal and political institutions is that they exercise coercive power. The essays in this volume examine institutional coercion with the aim of trying to understand its nature, justification and limits. Included are essays that take a fresh look at perennial questions. Leading scholars from philosophy, political science and law examine these and related questions shedding new light on an apparently inescapable feature of political and legal life: Coercion.
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21The Complicity Objection and the Return of PrescriptionsSouthwest Philosophy Review 31 (1): 207-216. 2015.On the moderate view, an objecting pharmacist may refuse to fill a prescription, provided that the pharmacist then refers the client to a non-objecting pharmacist who will fill the prescription in a timely manner (see, e.g., Cantor and Baum, 2004, or Brock, 2008). This view seeks to balance the interests of the pharmacist and the interests of the client. The complicity objection holds that the moderate view fails to balance these interests, because the referral itself makes the objecting phar…Read more
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12A Review of J. Angelo Corlett’s Race, Rights, and Justice (review)Journal of Philosophy, Science and Law 10 1-9. 2010.
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43Human Rights Without Political Participation?Human Rights Review 15 (4): 369-390. 2014.John Rawls claims that “benevolent absolutisms” honor human rights without honoring political participation rights. Critics argue that he is mistaken. One objection appeals to the instrumental value of political participation rights. This objection holds that without political participation rights, individuals cannot secure the content of their rights against encroachment. Given this, individuals without political participation rights cannot be said to have rights at all. Here, I evaluate this i…Read more
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20Toward Limits on Diversity in Press FreedomPhilosophy in the Contemporary World 21 (2): 1-13. 2014.Some argue that at least some non-liberal, non-democratic societies deserve fiill and good standing in the international community. These arguments imply that some divergence in understanding the role of the press is also justified and should be tolerated. But what are the limits of diversity here? I begin to find these limits by considering John Rawls's "decent" societies in the context of Amartya Sen's work on famine. Sen claims that a free press plays an important role in famine prevention. A…Read more
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34Rawls’s Decent Peoples and the Democratic Peace ThesisSocial Philosophy Today 20 137-153. 2004.In The Law of Peoples, Rawls defends the stability of his proposed international order with the democratic peace thesis. But he fails to extend this thesis to decent peoples, which is curious, since they are a non-temporary feature of his law of peoples. This opens Rawls’s proposal to certain objections, which I argue can be met once we understand fully the nature of the democratic peace. Nevertheless, there is reason to worry about the stability of Rawls’s proposed international order. This wor…Read more