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Toward Democratic "No-Rule": A Conceptual Response To Contemporary Challenges To Political Freedom, Alexander W. Brockwehl

Honors Theses

In this thesis, I argue that different conceptions of freedom yield different manifestations of governance. I demonstrate that in the United States, a private conception of freedom grounded in individual and state sovereignty has been repeated in political discourse with severe consequences for democracy. This conception of freedom derives largely from America’s founding, from a reliance on legal language, and from fundamental assumptions about the role of the people in governance. It institutionalizes social and political hierarchies through promoting and protecting individual autonomy. In contrast to this dominant form of freedom, I sketch an alternative that encourages public engagement, political …