01071pab a2200157 454500 180718b2000 xxu||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d Bird, Colin The possibility of self-government 2000 p.563-77 Sep Many 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 Self government American Political Science Review 45951 45951 45951 0 0 0 0 IIPA IIPA 2018-07-19 Volume no: 94, Issue no: 3 AR46376 2018-07-19 2018-07-19 AR