The Possibility of Self-Government
@article{Bird2000ThePO, title={The Possibility of Self-Government}, author={Colin Bird}, journal={American Political Science Review}, year={2000}, volume={94}, pages={563 - 577} }
Many have suggested that the findings of social choice theory demonstrate that there can be no “will of the people.” This has subversive implications for our intuitive concept of self-government. I explore the relation between the notion of a “social will,” that of self-government, and the impossibility theorems of social choice theory. I conclude that although the concept of the social will is essential to that of self-government, the findings of social choice theory do not cast doubt upon the…
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