Abstract

This chapter examines the neo-republican thesis of the compatibility between freedom and the state under conditions of ‘equally shared control’. It first considers the neo-liberal conception of the relation between freedom and the state as well as the socialist-social-democratic criticism of the neo-liberal understanding of freedom. It then discusses the neo-republicanism of Philip Pettit and the ‘republican thesis’ that freedom and political order are not contradictory to each other. It also analyses Robert Nozick's libertarianism and Friedrich Hayek's liberalism, along with their argument that all actions of a government should be in strict accordance with the rule of law. Furthermore, it looks at the political philosophy of neo-liberalism, the implications of nondomination and the ‘neo-republican thesis’ that even a state's power and interferences can be controlled by its citizens. The chapter concludes by rejecting the thesis that freedom and the state are compatible.