Thesis Proposal Review

The all-affected interests principle (AAI) requires that all persons affected by a decision have the right to exercise some degree of power over that decision. AAI is both popular and intuitively appealing as a basis upon which we might determine the rightful constitution of the demos - i.e. the set of individuals who have a right to exercise democratic power over given political choices and institutions. Nevertheless, the principle is vulnerable to counterexamples: if Sherlock bets Mycroft £500 that Mary will accept John's offer of marriage, Sherlock will certainly be affected by Mary's decision but surely does not thereby acquire any right to exercise power over that decision. In this paper I argue for a revised version of AAI that escapes these counterexamples by appealing to the values of moral equality and personal autonomy. I defend the revised version of the principle against objections and consider, briefly, its wider implications for the justification and authority of democracy.