Do we need an anti-oligarchic constitution?
| Author | Samuel Bagg |
| Published date | 01 April 2022 |
| Date | 01 April 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/1474885121996281 |
| Subject Matter | Review Articles |
Review Article EJPT
Do we need an anti-
oligarchic constitution?
Samuel Bagg
University of Oxford, UK
Abstract
Camila Vergara’s Systemic Corruption is an extraordinarily rich, provocative and original
work of political theory, which makes several compelling interventions in the normative
literature. It develops a forceful critique of overly narrow definitions of corruption,
insisting that a more ‘systemic’ conception is required in order to grasp the scale of
oligarchic domination in contemporary democracies. It also points out the limitations
of the ‘proceduralist’ model of contestation adopted by neo-republicans, and outlines a
persuasive conception of the people as a partisan actor with specific interests to
defend. Yet Vergara’s alternative vision of how popular power might be institutionalized
is less convincing. Though she rightly insists on the importance of organized counter-
vailing power and plebeian solidarity, the system of nested local assemblies that she
proposes is not well-suited to foster the development of either.
Keywords
Corruption, democracy, oligarchy, popular power, republicanism
Many casual observers are content to lay the blame for contemporary democratic
crises at the feet of a few unscrupulous actors such as Trump, Orba
´n, Modi and
Bolsonaro. More sophisticated students of democracy will duly acknowledge the
social upheavals and economic dislocations that enabled their rise, as well as the
Corresponding author:
Samuel Bagg, Nuffield College, University of Oxford, New Road, Oxford, OX1 1NF, UK.
Email: samuel.bagg@gmail.com
European Journal of Political Theory
!The Author(s) 2021
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/1474885121996281
journals.sagepub.com/home/ept
2022, Vol. 21(2) 399–411
Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ, 2020; pp. 288; ISBN 978-0-691-20753-7, US$35.00/
£30.00 (hbk)
Camila Vergara, Systemic Corruption: Constitutional Ideas for an Anti-Oligarchic Republic,
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