Abstract

DIAB, Fernanda. Tensions between freedom and democracy in the thinking of Philip Pettit. Andamios [online]. 2020, vol.17, n.42, pp.285-307.  Epub Aug 28, 2020. ISSN 2594-1917.  https://doi.org/10.29092/uacm.v17i42.744.

Contestatory democracy entails a model for citizen participation that carries limited political potential to guarantee and promote non-domination as a communal value. This paper argues that the actual problem does not lie in institutional design but in the tensions between this model of democracy and the notion of freedom attempting to normatively guide such notion. Freedom as non-domination is a type of negative freedom. As such, it is indifferent to the subject’s goals, it does not allow for justifying motivations beyond individual’s interest. Due to this, disputation turns out to be a control mechanism that fails to achieve its main goal in public sphere decision-making: defending freedom in a republican sense.

Keywords : Contestatory democracy; freedom as non-domination; Philip Pettit; negative freedom; common good.