Freedom Is Power: Liberty Through Political Representation

Using the history of political thought and real-world political contexts, including South Africa and the recent global financial crisis, this book argues that power is integral to freedom. It demonstrates how freedom depends upon power, and contends that liberty for all citizens is best maintained if conceived as power through political representation. Against those who de-politicise freedom through a romantic conception of 'the people' and faith in supposedly independent judicial and political institutions, Lawrence Hamilton argues that real modern freedom can only be achieved through representative and participative mechanisms that limit domination and empower classes and groups who become disempowered in the conflicts that inevitably pervade politics. This is a sophisticated contribution to contemporary political theory that will be of interest to scholars and students of history, politics, philosophy, economics, sociology, development studies and Southern African studies.

Author: Lawrence Hamilton
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 10/01/2015
Pages: 244
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.73lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.51d
ISBN: 9781107660342

About the Author
Hamilton, Lawrence: - Lawrence Hamilton is Professor of Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand, and an Affiliated Lecturer in Political Theory in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Political Philosophy of Needs (Cambridge, 2003).