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18 Geo. J.L. & Pub. Pol'y 705 (2020)
Shared Agency and the Ethics of Democracy

handle is hein.journals/geojlap18 and id is 725 raw text is: Shared Agency and the Ethics of Democracy EMILEE CHAPMAN* ABSTRACT Democracy is a collective activity that entails the creation and operation of collec- tive agency. The importance of collective agency to democracy raises some impor- tant puzzles about the ethics of democracy, especially regarding the status of existing democratic institutions and practices. Foremost among these is the paradox of con- stitutionalism. On one hand, citizens ought to have the power to change the institu- tions and practices that structure their interactions and affect the kinds of things democratic communities are able to do with their public power. On the other hand, citizens can only exercise power democratically through institutions and practices that organize their disparate activities into a form of collective agency. How we resolve this paradox-that is, how we understand the normative status of existing democratic institutions and practices in practical deliberation-depends on which model of collective agency we use. This paper argues that the joint intentions model of shared agency is most compatible with mainstream theories of what democ- racy is for and what it must be able to do. The joint intentions model of collective agency has a number of important implications for the ethics of democracy, includ- ing for resolving the constitutional paradox. The joint intentions model of collective agency suggests that we might think of existing institutions and practices as part of a shared plan for democracy. If existing institutions and practices have the normative status of plans then they must have a special status in citizens' practical deliberations about how to contribute to democracy. TABLE OF CONTENTS I. MODELING DEMOCRACY AS A JOINTLY INTENTIONAL ACTIVITY ... 707 A. A Shared Intentions Conception of Democracy............ 710 B. Shared Intentions and Reciprocity ...................... 715 II. SHARED INTENTIONS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF PLANS .......... .... 717 A. Shared Plans and Normative Reasons ................... 719 III. SHARED AGENCY AND THE PARADOX OF DEMOCRACY .......... .... 720 A. Democracy, Plans, and a Task of Political Theory ......... . 722 * Assistant Professor, Political Science, Stanford University, emileebc@stanford.edu. © 2021, Emilee Chapman. 705