Review of Thomas, Republic of Equals

Alan Thomas's groundbreaking new book sets itself three main tasks. First, to effect a marriage of sorts between liberal and republican political philosophy. Second, to show that this union bears important progeny, in the form of a theory of property-owning democracy (POD). Third, to show that POD is the union's only legitimate child. Welfare-state capitalism and worker control, in other words, are not legitimate heirs to liberal-republican values. Thomas makes a cogent and original case for the first, matchmaking, task. This review grants that premise and focuses on the internal coherence of Thomas's argument, that is, his defence of POD