Douglas Choi
PhD
Political Science
Born and raised in Hong Kong, Douglas Wai Tak Choi is a PhD candidate in the School of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Melbourne. His PhD research examines the concept of political alienation and explores its normative implications on political legitimacy/legitimation of liberal-democratic states. Prior to joining SSPS, he studied government and laws in the University of Hong Kong, where he also completed an MPhil in political theory.
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Thesis
Political Alienation and Political Legitimacy of Liberal-Democratic Political Orders
An individual is politically alienated when she feels estranged from the political order she is subject to. How do people come to be/feel politically alienated even when everyone is formally included within a liberal-democratic state? This project investigates how political alienation might bear on the political legitimacy/legitimation of liberal-democratic states, and what it takes to foster a meaningful connection between the state and its subjects. This leads us to a more comprehensive account of legitimacy/legitimation that incorporates objective, normative standards of legitimacy and the people’s actual subjective feelings, beliefs, and perceptions.
Research interests
- Democratic Theory
- Political Legitimacy
- Ethics of Immigration
- Normative Political Theory