Republican Freedom in Choice, Person, and Society

By a characteristically republican account, a person is free in the exercise of a choice to the extent that no one else has the power, even the unexercised power, of interfering in that choice. The account makes good analytical sense, as rival accounts may also do, but its appeal primarily consists in its rich implications for the freedom of persons and the society as a whole. If people are to be equally free in this sense—if they are to enjoy equal freedom as non-domination—then the law must identify the basic liberties or choices of each and provide each with security against the domination of others in the exercise of those choices; by a traditional metric, it must enable citizens to be free persons, able to look one another in the eye without reason for fear of deference. But if they and their society are to count as free, republican freedom must also guard citizens against domination by those who make and impose law. Those in power must be constrained to make public decisions under a system of electoral and other controls that are sustained or applied by ordinary citizens, rather than enjoying discretionary or arbitrary power; intuitively, they must rule on the people’s terms.