Abstract
Opposing the usual elitist presentation of Cicero, I identify three arguments favoring democratic participation in De re publica and De legibus. The first sees democratic participation as a demand of the common people, which results from their untamable desire for freedom and must be fulfilled to avoid civil unrest. The second sees it as an instrument to lessen the likelihood of elites’ corruption. The third incorporates the previous two under an account of state legitimacy, arguing that democratic participation is just because without it, the civic community under a state’s rule cannot be a partnership and hence the state cannot be a legitimate one as a common property of the people. I argue that this account of state legitimacy differs from the one in Pettit’s republicanism and may help clarify the normative commitment to the public nature of the state that underlies the current “realist” and “instrumental” defenses of democracy.
Highlights
Cicero and the Role of Democratic Participation in Republican GovernmentRepublicanism is one of the most important developments in contemporary political theory
Can we really find a firm defense of democratic participation in the political thought of the Roman Republic? If we can, does this ancient defense of democratic participation bear any concrete resemblance to what claims to be its modern echoes in contemporary republicanism? If there is a difference between the ancient defense and the modern one, does this difference have any relevance to the theory and practice of democracy in the 21st century?
Given these similarities and differences, we may conclude our comparison between Cicero and Pettit in this way: while Cicero and Pettit believe that freedom as non-domination necessitates democratic participation, they have different theories of state legitimacy; Pettit prioritizes freedom and makes both social justice and political legitimacy derivative from freedom, whereas Cicero prioritizes the natural justice that maintains a civil association over freedom when determining the legitimacy of a state authority
Summary
Republicanism is one of the most important developments in contemporary political theory. Advocates of republicanism have argued that it can inform and enrich democratic political theory and practice. Direito autoral e licença de uso: Este artigo está licenciado sob uma Licença Creative Commons. Com essa licença você pode compartilhar, adaptar, para qualquer fim, desde que atribua a autoria da obra, forneça um link para a licença, e indicar se foram feitas alterações
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