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In Defense of A Mandatory Public Service Requirement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2022

Debra Satz
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Abstract

This paper defends mandatory national service as a response to democratic decay. Because democracy cannot be maintained by laws and incentives alone, citizens must care about the quality and attitudes of their society's members. In an age of increasing segregation and conflict on the basis of class and race, national service can bring citizens from different walks of life together to interact cooperatively on social problems. It offers a form of ‘forced solidarity’. The final sections of the paper consider objections to this proposal.

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Type
Paper
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Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements , Volume 91: A Philosophers' Manifesto: Ideas and Arguments to Change the World , May 2022 , pp. 259 - 269
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy and the contributors 2022

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