ABSTRACT
Richard E. Flathman's Political Obligation gives a subtle and detailed account of what he calls the practice of political obligation. Several influential philosophical essays on obedience and authority are collected in Edward Kent's Revolution and the Rule of Law. A. John Simmons's Moral Principles and Political Obligations gives a careful, subtle and account of some arguments for and against treating obligations of reciprocation as a basis for political obligation. Simmons is surely correct, however, to point to the way in which the reciprocity arguments tie obligations to the facts of particular cases, to the actual benefits given and received, and the actual abilities and needs of the parties. And Sara Ruddick, 'Drafting Women: Pieces of a Puzzle', Center for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland, suggests that 'participant-beneficiary' arguments are likely to yield somewhat different citizenship obligations for women than for men. Simmons divides the obligations of reciprocity into obligations of fair play and obligations of gratitude.
