Democracy and disenfranchisement : the morality of electoral exclusions / Claudio López-Guerra.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

López-Guerra, Claudio.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Suffrage.

Physical Description:

ix, 189 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014.

Summary:

The denial of voting rights to certain types of persons continues to be a moral problem of practical significance. The disenfranchisement of persons with mental impairments, minors, noncitizen residents, nonresident, citizens, and criminal offenders is a matter of controversy in many countries. How should we think morally about electoral exclusions? What should we conclude about these particular cases? This book proposes a set of principles, called the Critical Suffrage Doctrine, that defies conventional beliefs on the legitimate denial of the franchise. According to the Critical Suffrage Doctrine, in some realistic circumstances it is morally acceptable to adopt an alternative to universal suffrage that would exclude the vast majority of sane adults for being largely unuiformed. Thus, contrary to what most people believe, current controversies on the franchise are not about exploring the limits of a basic moral right. Regarding such controversies, the Critical Suffrage Doctrine establishes that, in polities with universal suffrage, the blanket disenfranchisement of minors and the mentally impaired cannot be justified; that noncitizen residents should be allowed to vote; that excluding nonresident citizens is permissible; and that criminal offenders should not be disenfranchised-although facilitating voting from prison is not required in all contexts. Political theorists have rarely submitted the franchise to serious scrutiny. Hence this study makes a contribution to a largely neglected and important subject. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 Disenfranchisement on the Basis of Ignorance: The Lottery System 23

3 Disenfranchisement on the Basis of Immaturity and Insanity 61

4 Disenfranchisement on the Basis of Nonresidency and Noncitizenship 83

5 Disenfranchisement on the Basis of Felony Convictions 109

6 Disenfranchisement and the Limits of Democratic Theory 133

7 Conclusion 159.

ISBN:

0198705786

9780198705789

OCLC:

864662282