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published_or_final_version / Chinese Historical Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Inaug.-Diss.--Bern. / Vita. Bibliography: p. 115-116.

By now it has become a common observation that liberal and republican models of democracy are inadequate in making sense of the expansive political landscape in today’s complex and pluralistic societies. Deliberative democracy has become a new favorite amongst scholars in the attempt to reinvigorate democracy through normative frameworks that emphasize rationality, consensus and informed discussions. On the other hand, scholars have questioned whether the this model is effective with regards to present forms of political engagements that are often mediatized and staged in ways that fall short of deliberative ideals. This research moves beyond these models in the attempt to better capture the complex power relations that underpin contemporary liberal democratic societies. This involves rethinking concepts of political legitimacy and the public sphere. Through interrogating Habermas’s discourse model of democracy and putting him in dialogue with the works of Lefort and Foucault, it will be demonstrated that it is useful to view political legitimacy not as a status but a process in which individuals legitimate or de-legitimate the power relations that they find themselves in. In addition, the public sphere should be conceptualized as the public stage, in which individuals must struggle with not only the state apparatuses, but also with oppressive or dominating forms of power, in the government of both themselves and others. By redefining these two important concepts in political philosophy, this research seeks to rethink modern democracy as constituting the very condition of indeterminacy. / published_or_final_version / Philosophy / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M.A.)--Scarman Centre for the Study of Public Order, University of Leicester in association with School of Professional and Continuing Education, University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-95) Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-246).

Is there a general moral duty to obey the law because it is the law? This is the question of political obligation. The issue of political obligation is allegedly a central topic of political philosophy, because political obligation is often assumed to be necessary for state legitimacy; that is to say, for a state to be legitimate, it must be capable of imposing political obligation on the governed. Nonetheless, the literature has indicated that it is enormously difficult, at least within the liberal doctrine that many find most attractive, to justify political obligation. Given that political obligation is viewed as an indispensable part of state legitimacy, skepticism about political obligation points to a seemingly inescapable yet disturbing conclusion: no existing liberal state is legitimate, no matter how just it is. This skeptical position is also known as philosophical anarchism. This study aims to show that philosophical anarchism is not as irresistible as it appears. But I do not take the traditional approach of refuting philosophical anarchism by defending or developing theories of political obligation. On the contrary, I devote the first part of my thesis to consolidating the skepticism about political obligation. The approach I favor is to argue that political obligation is not necessary for state legitimacy. If this point can be established, then even if political obligation is unjustified, it will not automatically lead to philosophical anarchism. This constitutes the second part of my thesis, where I develop a conception of “legitimacy without political obligation” and defend it against the objection that it is either conceptually or morally wrong to claim that a legitimate state need not impose political obligation on its subjects. / published_or_final_version / Politics and Public Administration / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Florida, 2009. / Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 181 pages. Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Also available in print.

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