Civil Disobedience and Deliberative Democracy

<p>Civil disobedience is a public nonviolent conscientious yet political act contrary to law carried out to communicate opposition to law and policy of government. This book presents a theory of civil disobedience that draws on ideas associated with deliberative democracy.</p><p>This book explores the ethics of civil disobedience in democratic societies. It revisits the theoretical literature on civil disobedience with a view to taking a fresh look at long-standing questions: When is civil disobedience a justified method of political protest? What role if any does it play in democratic politics? Is there a moral right to civil disobedience in a democratic society? And how should a democratic state respond to citizens who commit civil disobedience? The answers given to these questions add up to a coherent and distinctive theory of civil disobedience which draws on ideas associated with deliberative democracy to forge an account that improves upon prominent approaches to this subject.</p><p>Civil Disobedience and Deliberative Democracy will be of interest to students and scholars of contemporary political theory political science democratization studies social movement studies criminology legal theory and moral philosophy.</p>