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Founding and refounding: Arendt on political institutions

Founding and refounding: Arendt on political institutions
Founding and refounding: Arendt on political institutions
This thesis is concerned with Arendt’s political theory, particularly those elements of it concerned with political institutions. It treats her work as a response to a mis-conceptualisation of politics as being fundamentally formed of rulership and command, which is to say that she opposes treating sovereignty as an essential component of political practice.

What Arendt offers, as an alternative, is a full-fledged account of how politics could operate in the absence of sovereignty. This thesis argues that it is a coherent picture, consistent across the course of her work. A particularly important element of this consistency is the closeness of fit between the material which forms the basis of Arendt’s understanding of politics and her account of political foundations.

To do so, the thesis begins with a discussion of Arendt’s concept of ‘action’, which forms the basis of her understanding of politics. One of the most distinctive features of this is the importance of individual initiative, understood as responsiveness to the already given. This part of action is an essential part of linking it harmoniously to those other elements of her work which appear here.

Arendt’s work on ‘judgment’ is the focus of its own chapter; it is important because judgment is Arendt’s conceptualisation of political discussion modelled on opinion, which has previously been treated as a late-career development, is here treated as consistent with and, essentially, an extension of, certain features of action.

On the basis of this combined reading of action and judgment, it is possible to read Arendt’s description of political foundations as an example of the same kind of political activity. Contra Honig’s reading of the political foundation as an opportunity for resistance, this thesis treats it as a political act which invites the participation of later citizens.

Finally, an account of Arendt’s institutional thought is completed by presenting her description of the ‘council system’ in combination with Thomas Jefferson’s ‘ward system’. The two combine to form an example of political organisation which both does without a reliance on sovereignty and maximises opportunities for meaningful political engagement.
Dunn, Adam George
742ad7bd-1c9b-4ea6-a98e-cafdd8c9c716
Dunn, Adam George
742ad7bd-1c9b-4ea6-a98e-cafdd8c9c716
McManus, Denis
95bb0718-d3fa-4982-9cde-05ac00b5bb24

Dunn, Adam George (2011) Founding and refounding: Arendt on political institutions. University of Southampton, School of Humanities, Doctoral Thesis, 235pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with Arendt’s political theory, particularly those elements of it concerned with political institutions. It treats her work as a response to a mis-conceptualisation of politics as being fundamentally formed of rulership and command, which is to say that she opposes treating sovereignty as an essential component of political practice.

What Arendt offers, as an alternative, is a full-fledged account of how politics could operate in the absence of sovereignty. This thesis argues that it is a coherent picture, consistent across the course of her work. A particularly important element of this consistency is the closeness of fit between the material which forms the basis of Arendt’s understanding of politics and her account of political foundations.

To do so, the thesis begins with a discussion of Arendt’s concept of ‘action’, which forms the basis of her understanding of politics. One of the most distinctive features of this is the importance of individual initiative, understood as responsiveness to the already given. This part of action is an essential part of linking it harmoniously to those other elements of her work which appear here.

Arendt’s work on ‘judgment’ is the focus of its own chapter; it is important because judgment is Arendt’s conceptualisation of political discussion modelled on opinion, which has previously been treated as a late-career development, is here treated as consistent with and, essentially, an extension of, certain features of action.

On the basis of this combined reading of action and judgment, it is possible to read Arendt’s description of political foundations as an example of the same kind of political activity. Contra Honig’s reading of the political foundation as an opportunity for resistance, this thesis treats it as a political act which invites the participation of later citizens.

Finally, an account of Arendt’s institutional thought is completed by presenting her description of the ‘council system’ in combination with Thomas Jefferson’s ‘ward system’. The two combine to form an example of political organisation which both does without a reliance on sovereignty and maximises opportunities for meaningful political engagement.

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More information

Published date: April 2011
Organisations: University of Southampton, Philosophy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 344709
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/344709
PURE UUID: 2b64f422-2751-4bad-9338-93a4bb495650

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Date deposited: 29 Oct 2012 12:50
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 12:16

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Contributors

Author: Adam George Dunn
Thesis advisor: Denis McManus

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