Animals, Equality and Democracy

Animals, Equality and Democracy examines the structure of animal protection legislation and finds that it is deeply inequitable, with a tendency to favour those animals the community is most likely to see and engage with. Siobhan O'Sullivan argues that these inequities violate fundamental principle of justice and transparency.

'In Animals, Equality, and Democracy, Siobhan O'Sullivan appeals to democratic values to argue that the way we treat many animals is unjustifiable, even when judged by the standards that citizens of most democracies already accept. This is an engagingly fresh approach to the issue of animal equality, and I hope it will be widely discussed.' - Peter Singer, Princeton University, USA 'In Animals, Equality, and Democracy, Siobhan O'Sullivan has provided a brave new perspective on the inequalities of our treatment of animals, not the conventional view of how they fare worse than humans, but a thoughtful consideration of why some animals are treated better than others. This approach will challenge us to look after all animals better, not just the ones we derive most benefit from.' - Clive Phillips, Professor of Animal Welfare, University of Queensland, Australia

SIOBHAN O'SULLIVAN is Research Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences, Melbourne University, Australia.  She has a long-standing interest in animal protection and published widely on animal issues, including articles in Environmental Politics, Environmental Values and the Journal of Animal Ethics. Siobhan is an Associate Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.