ABSTRACT
In the history of political thought, justifications of democracy begin with the defense and articulation of certain basic political values and argue that democratic decisionmaking embodies or promotes them. There are basically three kinds of arguments. The first is that democracy is based on self-government. The second kind of argument is that democracy is founded on the equality of citizens. A third kind of argument is instrumentalist; it states that democracy is good not because of any of its intrinsic properties but because democracies just tend to choose the best terms of association for a society. This chapter examines three different versions or the liberty, or self-government, argument: the direct, the epistemic, and the constructive conceptions of the self-government arguments. Liberty-based arguments found democracy on the basis of the claim that democratic participation is a necessary component of liberty or self-government.
