Current Projects |
Liberal Bodies: Bodily Invasion and Political Theory(Book manuscript)What are, and what should be, the limits to legitimate state power over citizens? Under what circumstances can the state legitimately encroach upon the boundaries of its citizens' persons? The attempt to answer these questions -in both theoretical and practical terms- lies at the heart of the liberal project. Liberal political theory is the product of political theorists seeking to provide a principle according to which external authority can be checked. The state's uninvited and unwelcome presence inside the body jeopardizes both the concepts of limited state power over individuals and individual autonomy. It is for these reasons that I examine cases of bodily invasion that necessarily raise these questions of individuals, state power, and the line between them. I define bodily invasion as those instances where the state, without meaningful consent, executes biological or physical interventions that alter, rather than sustain, a person and that produce substantial biological effects for the purpose of realizing a public benefit. These practices include compulsory vaccination, involuntary sterilization, court-ordered Cesarean sections, forced medical treatment and some kinds of searches and seizures. In order to discern an underlying principle according to which bodily invasion cases are decided, I explore cases where the courts have both authorized state invasion and protected citizens' bodies. Courts have authorized bodily invasions in cases of obstetric intervention, some searches, and involuntary sterilization, but have protected citizens from such invasions in cases of organ donation and other searches. I examine both of these types of cases to ascertain what principle -if any- the courts have used to distinguish among them. I argue that liberal political theory fails to protect citizens from those practices of bodily invasion that liberalism itself defines as problematic or objectionable. The failure of liberal political theory to protect precisely what it posits as central -the individual- is a significant failing. I argue that even if we choose to embrace autonomy as a primary value, liberal political theory is insufficient to protect it. Lastly, I consider several approaches that may offer protection against state bodily invasions. |
The Subject of Suffering: Democracy and Injustice(Book project with Julie White, Ohio University)Democracy is often advocated as a remedy for injustice. We argue that most democratic theory is inadequately attentive to the obstacles to political recognition of vulnerability and victimization. As a consequence, whether the remedy is legal justice, as is the case in liberal democratic approaches, or inclusive participation, as is the case in deliberative democratic approaches, democracy in these forms fails to adequately address the subject of injustice. An adequate democratic theory and the practices it justifies must, we argue: 1) provide openings for the political recognition of both a victim's sense of injustice and 2) provide remedies for the structural conditions that produce injustice. We assess liberal and deliberative democratic approaches with this in mind. Liberal democratic theories, both because of their narrow vision of the political and their strong commitment to individual autonomy, present substantial obstacles to the political recognition of injustice. Although it is often argued that liberal democracy, while it may be consistent with neglect, offers a strong defense against domination, we argue that liberal democracy is consistent with and often reinforces certain forms of domination. Deliberative theories might be assumed at least to offer better assurance that public dialogue will create openings for a broader political recognition of vulnerability and suffering -- a necessary, if not sufficient condition for remedy. We argue, however, that neither approach to democracy is adequately attentive to the obstacles to recognition and remedy. |
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