Reclaiming Politics Political Pluralism and the Common Law Tradition 1st Edition – PDF/EPUB Version Downloadable

The author discusses political pluralism and the common law tradition. “Political pluralism” refers to the English Pluralists of the early 1900s who understood pluralism as a response to the excesses of both individualism and state collectivism. They argued that individuals will always be found within a myriad of groups—families, churches, workplaces, communities, etc. Such groups are real, neither reducible to the individuals who make them up nor legal fictions or mere concessions of the state. Pluralists view society as being built from the bottom up by an assortment of groups. This organic view of society goes hand in hand with a parallel organic view of law, which conceives law as a historically unfolding emanation from the people rather than a simple command of the sovereign. The common law emphasizes consensus and continuity.

After connecting political pluralism and the common law through examples from European history, the book turns to the United States. Early America had both a strong organic conception of law and society. As the U.S. moved away from these understandings, political polarization grew, and public sentiment became more pessimistic and anxious. Political pluralism and the common law tradition offer a powerful corrective to some of today’s most pressing problems.