01020pab a2200133 454500008004000000100001600040245003900056260000900095300001300104362000800117520070300125650002000828773003800848180718b2000   xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d  aBird, Colin  aThe possibility of self-government  c2000  ap.563-77  aSep  aMany have suggested that the findings of social choice theory demonstrate that there can be no "will of the people." This has subversive implications for our intuitive concept of self-government. I explore the relation between the notion of a "social will," that of self-government, and the impossibility theorems of social choice theory. I conclude that although the concept of the social will is essential to that of self-government, the findings of social choice theory do not cast doubt upon the possibility of either. Unlike many attempts to respond to the threat posed by social choice theory, my argument does not require any appeal to the problematic notion of the common good. - Reproduced  aSelf government  aAmerican Political Science Review