Competing Conceptions of Fairness and Citizenship: A Case Study of Newport’s Fairness Commission and Public Views of Fairness

Drawing from W.B. Gallie’s seminal work in political philosophy on the essentially contested nature of political concepts, the paper examines Newport City Council’s Fairness Commission’s (NFC) account of fairness, alongside a public survey of Newport citizens’ views of fairness. Reflecting Gallie’s conclusions, public perceptions tend to focus on two parameters of debate identified by NFC underpinning various controversies concerning competing conceptions of fairness: equality versus differential treatment, and the accountability and transparency of Council’s decision-making. Moreover, contrary to contemporary political discourses which largely reject post-1945 Marshallesque social rights as a hallmark of citizenship, the views of Newport citizens regarding conceptions of citizenship were also controversial: that is, reflecting, albeit with certain caveats, what has been dubbed ‘passive’ conceptions of citizenship (focusing on individual rights and entitlements), rather than ‘active’ conceptions of citizenship (focusing on citizens’ obligations to participate, underpinned by the values of social interdependency and reciprocity).