Democratic Authority and Appropriate Consideration

Abstract

This chapter explains what it is to have authority in general, and why authority claims are the relevant subject matter of a theory of political equality. This requires a different conception of authority from that often used by political philosophers when discussing a different species of authority—that is, the authority of a state or government over its citizens. The conception of authority must recognize diverse ways in which one can obligate others to deliberate and act in response to one's own judgments about what to do. The chapter then introduces claims to consideration as constituting a form of authority of this flexible kind, and describes the different forms consideration can take. It then illustrates why people should see a demand for consideration as an appropriate expression of citizens' authority, or as a form of respect for citizens' political jurisdiction.