IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v4y2018i1d10.1057_s41599-018-0151-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Individual liberty and the importance of the concept of the people

Author

Listed:
  • Regina Queiroz

    (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Abstract

Through publically agreed laws that correspond to a common set of public restrictions, the ‘people as a sovereign body’ serves to protect against violations of individual liberty and despotic power. Where no such common body exists, individuals are deprived of this protection. In such cases, individuals must obey without liberty, while those in power command under a state of license. Neoliberal theorists maintain that any common personality, with its corresponding set of public and arbitrary positive and negative restrictions on liberty, undermines individual liberty. Neoliberal theory only allows for private restrictions on liberty. Against these neoliberal assumptions, we argue that rejecting public restrictions on liberty does not promote individual liberty. To the contrary, it creates conditions in which free individuals become servile and political inequality becomes entrenched, where citizens are divided into those who obey and those who command. Tracing the consequences of neoliberalism, we argue that unless we take seriously both the people as a political category and the right to equal and reciprocal coercion, individual liberty will be at risk. The article argues that neoliberalism ultimately leads to the total exclusion of certain citizens under the veil of full liberty. With the vanishing of the people’s will comes the utter disappearance of certain citizens, who live in a spontaneous society as if they were stateless or lawless persons. To better understand the connections between the rejection of the concept of the people, private restrictions on liberty and the fostering of the servile citizen, this paper considers the political philosophy of Hayek and Nozick. It also considers key ideas from Locke and Kant—theorists who, despite the differences between their philosophical perspectives, and despite the fact that they both provided crucial inspiration for Hayek’s political economy and Nozick’s libertarianism, stressed the protective role of the people with regard to individual liberty.

Suggested Citation

  • Regina Queiroz, 2018. "Individual liberty and the importance of the concept of the people," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0151-3
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-018-0151-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-018-0151-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-018-0151-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Legido-Quigley, Helena & Karanikolos, Marina & Hernandez-Plaza, Sonia & de Freitas, Cláudia & Bernardo, Luís & Padilla, Beatriz & Sá Machado, Rita & Diaz-Ordaz, Karla & Stuckler, David & McKee, Martin, 2016. "Effects of the financial crisis and Troika austerity measures on health and health care access in Portugal," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 120(7), pages 833-839.
    2. Athanasios Orphanides, 2014. "The Euro Area Crisis: Politics over Economics," Atlantic Economic Journal, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 42(3), pages 243-263, September.
    3. Joshua Ramey, 2015. "Neoliberalism as a political theology of chance: the politics of divination," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 1(palcomms2), pages 15039-15039, December.
    4. Regina Queiroz, 2017. "From the exclusion of the people in neoliberalism to publicity without a public," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-11, December.
    5. Kreuder-Sonnen, Christian & Zangl, Bernhard, 2015. "Which post-Westphalia? International organizations between constitutionalism and authoritarianism," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 21(3), pages 568-594.
    6. Margaret Canovan, 1999. "Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy," Political Studies, Political Studies Association, vol. 47(1), pages 2-16, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Regina Queiroz, 2017. "From the exclusion of the people in neoliberalism to publicity without a public," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 3(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Manuel Funke & Moritz Schularick & Christoph Trebesch, 2023. "Populist Leaders and the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 113(12), pages 3249-3288, December.
    3. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile internet and the rise of political tribalism in Europe," CEP Discussion Papers dp1877, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    4. Stergios Skaperdas, 2015. "Myths and Self-Deceptions about the Greek Debt Crisis," Revue d'économie politique, Dalloz, vol. 125(6), pages 755-785.
    5. Cristina Borra & Jerònia Pons-Pons & Margarita Vilar-Rodríguez, 2020. "Austerity, healthcare provision, and health outcomes in Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 409-423, April.
    6. Fernando Filgueiras & Pedro Palotti & Graziella G. Testa, 2023. "Complexing Governance Styles: Connecting Politics and Policy in Governance Theories," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, March.
    7. Lasco, Gideon & Curato, Nicole, 2019. "Medical populism," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 1-8.
    8. Gradstein, Mark, 2024. "Social Status Inequality and Populism," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(2), pages 434-444.
    9. Ruben Durante & Paolo Pinotti & Andrea Tesei, 2019. "The Political Legacy of Entertainment TV," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(7), pages 2497-2530, July.
    10. Lebano, A., 2010. "The concept of corporate social responsibility," ISS Working Papers - General Series 21243, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    11. Koch, Cédric M., 2021. "Varieties of populism and the challenges to Global Constitutionalism: Dangers promises and implications," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(3), pages 400-438.
    12. Kim, Seongcheol, 2022. "Von Lefort zu Mouffe. Populismus als Moment und Grenze radikaler Demokratie [From Lefort to Mouffe: Populism as moment and limit of radical democracy]," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 32(4), pages 767-786.
    13. Kleczka, Mitja, 2015. "Monetary Policy, Fiscal Policy, and Secular Stagnation at the Zero Lower Bound. A View on the Eurozone," MPRA Paper 67228, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Gianpietro Mazzoleni & Roberta Bracciale, 2018. "Socially mediated populism: the communicative strategies of political leaders on Facebook," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Marco Manacorda & Guido Tabellini & Andrea Tesei, 2022. "Mobile Internet and the Rise of Communitarian Politics," CESifo Working Paper Series 9955, CESifo.
    16. Anbarci, Nejat & Kirmanoglu, Hasan & Ulubasoglu, Mehmet, 2007. "Why is the support for extreme right higher in more open societies?," Working Papers eco_2007_03, Deakin University, Department of Economics.
    17. Jennings, Colin, 2011. "The good, the bad and the populist: A model of political agency with emotional voters," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 611-624.
    18. Danielle Resnick, 2010. "Populist Strategies in African Democracies," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2010-114, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    19. Eveline S. van Leeuwen & Solmaria Halleck Vega & Vera Hogenboom, 2021. "Does population decline lead to a “populist voting mark‐up”? A case study of the Netherlands," Regional Science Policy & Practice, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 13(2), pages 279-301, April.
    20. Daniel L. Bennett & Christopher Boudreaux & Boris Nikolaev, 2023. "Populist discourse and entrepreneurship: The role of political ideology and institutions," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 54(1), pages 151-181, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:4:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-018-0151-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.