Introduction: Animals and Political Theory

Abstract

This book addresses the question of how political communities ought to govern their relations with non-human animals. The question is important because, quite clearly, all political communities must take some position over how animals in their society ought to be treated.1 After all, each and every political community has important social interactions with animals, whether those animals are companions, modes of transport, sources of awe, labourers, gods, food sources or simply part of a shared environment. Political communities have to make important decisions about whether those interactions should be regulated, how, for what reasons and for what ends. And, of course, all political communities do make such decisions. The past few years, for example, have seen a number of interesting developments. In 2007, the Animal Welfare Act came into force in England and Wales. Often referred to as a ‘Bill of Rights for Animals’, the Act introduced tougher fines for animal cruelty and granted greater powers of intervention to the RSPCA. Crucially, the Act also altered the legal obligations of owners of animals in a significant way: owners in England and Wales no longer simply have to refrain from acting cruelly towards their animals, but are also legally obliged to take positive steps to ensure that their animals are well housed, free from pain and able to express normal behaviour.2 KeywordsEuropean UnionPolitical TheoryPolitical CommunityPolitical TheoristPolitical ThoughtThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.