Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Political Philosophy

The Material Creation of Freedom

Stephen Martin Fritz & Denise Morel contemplate what creates democracy.

When Biden was President he warned that his political opponents were a threat to democracy itself. Similar accusations were levelled against former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro. Indeed, many journalists and pundits claim that a threat to democracy is a global phenomenon. Conservatives have long criticized adversaries for being soft on crime, and liberals have slammed rivals for not caring about the poor; but to accuse the opposition of being ‘a threat to democracy’ seems to be a new low. But is it? Warnings like “Democracy will come to an end if you don’t listen to me!” are almost as old as the idea that the rich are getting richer while the poor are getting poorer.

…