This lecture concludes the course section on classical political ideas by examining democracy, citizenship, and punishment. It explores democracy's changing meaning, its relationship with liberalism and capitalism, problems of exclusion, participation, representation, and state power, and the effects of class inequality on citizenship. The lecture then surveys theories of punishment, including retributivism, consequentialism, compromise theories, and restorative justice, before evaluating arguments for and against the death penalty, including deterrence, moral responsibility, wrongful convictions, redemption, racial disparities, cruelty, and its broader effects on society. The lecture closes by previewing the next unit on classical ideologies.
