The Problem of Political Obligation and the Principle of Fair Play: A Critical Assessment

There are different theories that try to give a satisfactory answer to the question of why people should obey the law. One of these proposals is the principle of fair play (or fairness). It says that if a person, who is part of a social cooperation scheme, benefits from the efforts of the other participants he/she is bound to do his part; otherwise, he/she acts unfairly. Several scholars have recognized the value of the principle, but others have demonstrated with good arguments that it has many difficulties to justify a general duty of obedience in complex schemes such as the State. The main objective of the paper is to assess, by using the literature review method, the virtues and weaknesses of the principle of fair play as a theory of political obligation. The obtained conclusion is that this theory could be an appropriate proposal as long as it satisfies some requirements.