To Promote the General Welfare

The essays collected in To Promote the General Welfare explore communitarianism, which examines the balance between rights and responsibilities, the need for a common good, and the need for diversity within unity. In the book ten preeminent scholars explore nine areas of the law-civil, criminal, constitutional-to explicate how a communitarian worldview might change or interpret the existing law. For example, Philip Selznick sketches a picture of communitarian justice in its broad...
More Description

The essays collected in To Promote the General Welfare explore communitarianism, which examines the balance between rights and responsibilities, the need for a common good, and the need for diversity within unity. In the book ten preeminent scholars explore nine areas of the law-civil, criminal, constitutional-to explicate how a communitarian worldview might change or interpret the existing law. For example, Philip Selznick sketches a picture of communitarian justice in its broad terms. Robert Ackerman argues that tort liability needs to be expanded in some areas and contracted in others to effectuate a more communitarian tort regime. Akhil Reed Amar and Alan Hirsch offer a communitarian reading of the Second Amendment and related parts of the Constitution, challenging Supreme Court precedent on issues that spring from the Second Amendment. Milton Regan challenges recent law-and-economics approach to marriage and divorce, and counters with the need to assess relationships as shared experiences, not merely consumerist interactions. And Gordon Bazemore breathes new life into the crime-control debate by suggesting a communitarian approach to American criminal justice, an approach that emphasizes community justice and restorative justice. These thoughtful analyses along with the others included in To Promote the General Welfare comprise a must-read for anyone interested in the law and social policy.