Essential Nozick: Democracy is not sufficient for freedom

Welcome to the essential ideas of Robert Nozick.

One of Nozick's many contributions to

our understanding of free societies  relates to his work on democracies.

Nozick explained that democracy alone doesn't  guarantee that people's rights will be protected

because, even in a democracy, the individual is  still potentially subjected to the decisions of

a majority of voters. And voters can still choose  to restrict people's economic and civil freedoms.

Let's explore this idea by going back in time  when many countries were ruled by monarchs…

Some of which decreed that women couldn't hold  property and were owned by their fathers or

husbands. Other monarchs discriminated against  visible minorities by limiting the work they

could do – and in some cases going so far  as to allow slavery. And still other kings

and queens prohibited certain religious  groups from owning land or businesses.

We can all agree these monarchs  were violating the rights of people.

If we look to modern societies, however, we also

observe democracies in which people's  rights are violated in similar ways.

A number of democratic countries have recent  histories of discriminating against women,

visible minorities, religious groups, and others. Nozick explained that these discriminatory acts

by democracies should be no less acceptable  than when they were done by unelected monarchs.

This is why Nozick stressed the singular role  for the state in protecting all people's rights.

For more information on Robert Nozick, visit  EssentialNozick.org, and to learn about

more essential scholars,  visit EssentialScholars.org