The Political Obligations of Partisans

This chapter argues that partisans have distinctive political obligations. It examines first the view that these are consent-based obligations grounded in partisans’ voluntary decision to undertake the positional duties of partisanship. This voluntarist account of partisan political obligations, however, presents some limits and needs to be complemented and reinforced by a fair play conception of partisan political obligations. According to the latter, the positional duties of partisanship acquire the status of political obligations, and become morally binding upon all partisans, because all partisans enjoy special privileges and benefits which derive from their participation in party politics. Partisans therefore have a moral duty to restrain their freedom and comply with their positional duties, which involve obeying the laws of their state and the fulfilment of which contributes to producing the benefits they enjoy.