The Political Value of Time
Citizenship, Duration, and Democratic Justice

Analyses of why precise dates and quantities of time become critical to transactions over citizenship rights in liberal democracies.

Elizabeth F. Cohen (Author)

9781108412254, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 March 2018

188 pages
22.8 x 15.3 x 1.2 cm, 0.3 kg

'Cohen has given us a tremendous opportunity here. Her analysis and argument opens new fields in research and provides a new dimension to analyze our existing theories.' Matthew Reid Krell, Law and Politics Book Review

Waiting periods and deadlines are so ubiquitous that we often take them for granted. Yet they form a critical part of any democratic architecture. When a precise moment or amount of time is given political importance, we ought to understand why this is so. The Political Value of Time explores the idea of time within democratic theory and practice. Elizabeth F. Cohen demonstrates how political procedures use quantities of time to confer and deny citizenship rights. Using specific dates and deadlines, states carve boundaries around a citizenry. As time is assigned a form of political value it comes to be used to transact over rights. Cohen concludes with a normative analysis of the ways in which the devaluation of some people's political time constitutes a widely overlooked form of injustice. This book shows readers how and why they need to think about time if they want to understand politics.

1. Introduction
2. The sovereign temporal boundaries around nation-states, populations, and citizenries
3. Democracy, duration, and lived consent
4. Time's political value
5. The political economy of time
6. Conclusion
Bibliography.

Subject Areas: Constitution: government & the state [JPHC], Political science & theory [JPA]