Nedyak I.L. Defining the political through the freedom from arbitrary power: An outline of civic consciousness in the Neo-Classical republicanism. Political Science, 2018, Issue 2, pp. 53-72.

Abstract

The article examines the understanding of the political by Neoclassical Republicans as an institutionally organized space in which moral order, civil norms and rule of law prevent the possibility of lawlessness of power. The political in this interpretation is an event that occurs under a combination of certain circumstances. The subject of analysis are the possibilities and ways of arranging such a political order, offered by Neoclassical Republicans. These are revealed in freedom as non-domination – the key concept of the theory of neoclassical republicanism. The Neo-Republic project of constituting of a political field in Russia highlights the following priorities: creation of a non-manipulative and corruption-resistant system; observance of law as the main citizen virtue; preference of a contestatory form of civic activity over a mass participation of citizens in the process of political decision making; entrusting the state with the role of a subject of social justice. The implementation of this policy is hampered by the negative consequences of the marketization of society: expansion of market ethos and principles into the political sphere; reducing citizen’s status to the consumer’s position; erosion of the foundations of social cohesion and solidarity; growth of inequality and political poverty; loss of skills in democratic citizenship; redefinition of civic virtues.