The Moral Foundations of Politics

When do governments merit our allegiance, and when should they be denied it? Ian Shapiro investigates this most enduring of political dilemmas in this innovative and engaging book. In the course of elucidating the different answers that have been proposed by the major political theorists in the utilitarian, Marxist, and social contract traditions over the past four centuries, Shapiro shows how these political philosophies have all been decisively shaped by the core values of the Enlightenment: grounding politics on a scientific study of the human condition and elevating respect for individual rights into the dominant political value. Shapiro acknowledges the serious difficulties that have plagued the political theories of the Enlightenment, but he argues against traditionalists and postmodernists of various stamps that wholesale rejection of the Enlightenment project in politics is infeasible and would be undesirable if it were feasible. Along the way he shows that each of the Enlightenment political traditions contains useful insights that survive their failures as comprehensive doctrines, and he explains how these insights should inform our thinking about political legitimacy. In the last part of the book Shapiro turns to the democratic tradition. Democrats judge regimes legitimate to the extent that those affected by decisions play appropriate role in making them, and opportunities exist for meaningful political opposition. Exploring the main arguments for and against democracy from Plato’s time until our own, Shapiro argues that democracy offers better resources than the going alternatives to realize the Enlightenment’s promise and to manage its internal tensions. As such, democracy supplies the best available basis for political legitimacy. Written from Shapiro’s distinctive perspective and in his characteristic lucid style, The Moral Foundations of Politics offers a welcome introduction to urgent ongoing conversations about the sources of political legitimacy.