Decentralized pursuit of non-domination breeds petty despotisms, not freedom.

Evidence

It should be clear that such individual efforts can lead in a very undesirable direction. Inequalities of physical health and prowess, social connection and influence, environmental location, and the like are inevitable in any real-world situation. And such inequalities are bound to accumulate under any real-world history, as the strong use their strength to accumulate more and more resources and thereby to become stronger still. Thus, the inevitable result of people’s pursuing non-domination in a decentralized way will be that most find themselves at the mercy, here of this stronger person or group, there of another. We may expect a society where petty despotisms are rampant: where men lord it over women, the richer lord it over the poorer, insiders lord it over outsiders, and so on. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 456

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s solidarity research: Pettit argues against purely defensive, decentralized resistance because unequal power accumulates absent a shared constitutional project — a strong contrast case to positive shared institutions. — connects to: Decentralized pursuit of non-domination breeds accumulating petty despotisms, not freedom — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 456; Neo-liberal capitalism decentralizes authority yet intensifies domination. — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 141

Broader Connections

• Decentralized pursuit of non-domination breeds accumulating petty despotisms, not freedom #corroborates (1.00) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 456
• Neo-liberal capitalism decentralizes authority yet intensifies domination. #corroborates (0.85) — Catherine Malabou, What Should We Do with Our Brain?, 141