Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho
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ather than a resource or property of persons and is connected to the<br />
abilities of agents to bring about significant affects, either by furthering<br />
their own interests or affecting the interests of others, positively<br />
or negatively. [17] I have argued elsewhere that these abilities depend<br />
upon the extent to which individuals are able to determine and satisfy<br />
their vital and agency needs. [18] The ability to determine and satisfy my<br />
needs depends upon the prevailing political and economic institutions<br />
and representatives and whether or not I find myself in situations of<br />
<strong>do</strong>mination. A situation of <strong>do</strong>mination arises when the existing power<br />
relations <strong>do</strong> not give me (or my group) the power to determine my (or<br />
our) needs. This can take various forms. Existing power relations can:<br />
a) mislead me in my attempts to identify my needs, e.g., patriarchy; b)<br />
ensure that I <strong>do</strong> not have the means or voice to express my needs, e.g.,<br />
apartheid South Africa; c) disable meaningful evaluation of needs, e.g.<br />
unregulated liberal capitalism. [19]<br />
134<br />
DEMOCRACY TODAY<br />
Groups<br />
First, though, what is a group? A contemporary definition provides<br />
a good starting point: a group is ‘a collective of individuals who are<br />
connected with each other in ways that are relevant to them, and/or<br />
others, and thereby affect their behaviour and/or that of others’. [20]<br />
The connection that binds the members of a group may be as a result<br />
of their gender, class, form of employment, lack of employment, material<br />
condition, political cause, and so on. A group is therefore distinct<br />
from other kinds of associations since it is characterised by a durable<br />
connection amongst the members and one that is of significance or<br />
is meaningful. So a gathering of a collection of friends on a Sunday<br />
morning in the park is not a group in this sense, unless of course they<br />
happen to be gathering as members of, say, the Westdene Sunday<br />
17<br />
Geuss, Philosophy and Real Politics (Princeton UP 2008), p. 27; Lukes, Power: A Radical<br />
View, 2 nd Ed. (Palgrave 2005), pp. 63, 65, 109.<br />
18<br />
The Political Philosophy of Needs (CUP 2003).<br />
19<br />
Cf. ‘<strong>do</strong>mination’ in Pettit, Republicanism and Lovett, A General Theory of Domination<br />
and Justice (CUP 2010).<br />
20<br />
Vieira and Runciman, Representation (Polity 2008), p. 86.