Philip Pettit (Princeton University): The Infrastructure of Democracy

Abstract: Democracy, at its best, requires the demos or people to have kratos or control. Since control involves not just influencing policy but also shaping it, democracy in this sense is a very rich ideal; it requires people to have an equally accessible form of influence that imposes on government policy an equally acceptable shape. Yet there are institutions that can deliver that result. They implement a modern version of the old republican ideal of a mixed constitution and a contestatory citizenry.

This event is jointly organised with the Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London.