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Democracy's Dignity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 September 2012

JOSIAH OBER
JOSIAH OBER*
Affiliation:
Stanford University
*
Josiah Ober is Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Professor in Honor of Constantine Mitsotakis, Departments of Political Science and Classics, Stanford University, 100 West Encina Hall, 616 Serra Street, Stanford CA 94301 (jober@stanford.edu).
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Abstract

Dignity, as equal high standing characterized by nonhumiliation and noninfantilization, is democracy's third core value. Along with liberty and equality, it is a necessary condition for collective self-governance. Dignity enables robust exercise of liberty and equality while resisting both neglectful libertarianism and paternalistic egalitarianism. The civic dignity required for democracy is specified through a taxonomy of incompletely and fully moralized forms of dignity. Distinctive features of different regimes of dignity are modeled by simple games and illustrated by historical case studies. Unlike traditional meritocracy and universal human dignity, a civic dignity regime is theoretically stable in a population of self-interested social agents. It is real-world stable because citizens are predictably well motivated to defend those threatened with indignity and because they have resources for effective collective action against threats to dignity. Meritocracy and civic dignity are not inherently liberal, but may persist within a liberal democracy committed to universal human dignity.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 106 , Issue 4 , November 2012 , pp. 827 - 846
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2012

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