The Frontiers of Democracy The Right to Vote

Why isn't everyone entitled to participate in democratic elections? Is the idea of democracy compatible with the persistent disenfranchisement of prisoners, people with cognitive impairments, non-citizens and children? These questions are answered in this original book. Existing exclusions from the vote are characterised and evaluated. A new framework is developed that explores the meaning of democratic inclusion and norms of equal treatment and highlights important tensions between these principles. In addition, the case for representing the interests of unborn generations is examined. Should future generations be thought of as members of the democratic people? The conclusion defended in the book is that exclusions from the vote are sometimes justified, but much less frequently than is currently the case in contemporary democracies. Book jacket.

LUDVIG BECKMAN is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Sweden. He took his PhD at Uppsala University and has since published on genetics and privacy, childrens rights, environmental justice, political professionalism and democratic theory.

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: Universal Suffrage on Trial	p. 1
Arguing the franchise	p. 6
The problem of inclusion	p. 10
The practice of exclusion	p. 16
The right to vote and alternative models of democracy	p. 19
Democracy and Inclusion	p. 23
Defining inclusion	p. 25
The democratic people	p. 36
Are unequal political rights ever justified?	p. 52
Conclusions	p. 60
Alienated From the Vote: The Case of Non-Citizens	p. 62
Inclusion and membership	p. 64
Territorial jurisdiction and the all affected principle	p. 71
The right of non-resident citizens to vote	p. 76
Temporary visitors and other border cases	p. 8O
Conclusions	p. 88
Too Young to Vote? Children's Suffrage	p. 90
Children and the all affected principle	p. 93
Justification and children	p. 99
Defending the exclusion of children	p. 109
Conclusions	p. 119
Jailhouse Vote? Felon Disenfranchisement and Democratic Inclusion	p. 120
Felons and the all affected principle	p. 123
Electoral fraud and disenfranchisement	p. 128
The moral authority to vote	p. 133
Conclusions	p. 144
Disability, Dependence and Democracy	p. 146
Rules of incompetence	p. 148
Two conceptions of independence	p. 151
Political equality and political independence	p. 154
The wider implications of political equality	p. 158
Conclusions	p. 165
The Vote of Unborn Generations	p. 167
Some preliminary issues	p. 168
Are future people legal subjects?	p. 170
Constitutions and constraints	p. 174
Reasonable representation?	p. 181
Conclusions	p. 186
Conclusion: Reasonable Inclusion and Exclusion	p. 188
The idea of democratic inclusion	p. 189
The idea of reasonable inclusion	p. 192
Notes	p. 197
References	p. 203
Index	p. 221
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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The Frontiers of Democracy The Right to Vote and its Limits

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