In political theory it goes without saying that the constitution of government raises a claim for legitimacy. With the constitution of the people, however, it is different. It is often dismissed as a historical question. The conviction is... more
In political theory it goes without saying that the constitution of government raises a claim for legitimacy. With the constitution of the people, however, it is different. It is often dismissed as a historical question. The conviction is that since the people cannot decide on its own composition the boundaries of democracy must be determined by other factors, such as the contingent forces of history. This article critically assesses this view. It argues that like the constitution of government, the constitution of the people raises a claim for legitimacy. The failure to see this is what makes many theorists run into the arms of history. They submit the legitimacy of the people to the arbitrary and asymmetrical forces of the present.
Keywords: legitimacy; the people; consent; contingency; constitution
This article examines the recent turn to the all-affected principle as a means to determine the proper boundaries of the people. The popularity of the principle notwithstanding, it argues that many of its proponents are prone to... more
This article examines the recent turn to the all-affected principle as a means to determine the proper boundaries of the people. The popularity of the principle notwithstanding, it argues that many of its proponents are prone to underestimating the challenge it raises to contemporary political theory. More specifically, two claims are made. Firstly, it argues that we must distinguish between two principles which, while both relating to the question of people-making, do so under radically different conditions: the all-subjected principle and the all-affected principle. Secondly, it argues that while the all-affected principle is a popular device in debates on cosmopolitan democracy it does not have a singular meaning. The all-affected principle in fact has three distinct roles to play, those of diagnosing, generating and justifying the boundaries of the people. The latter is the most difficult to account for in so far as it draws proponents of the all-affected principle into the very conflict that they set out to assess. It is concluded that this circumstance calls for a reorientation of the current debate, both with regard to the characterisation of the conflict under consideration and the challenge it raises to contemporary political theory.
This article offers a framework for thinking about democratic representation beyond election. It argues, firstly, that modern democracy is a unique form of government made up of representative claims. To act on behalf of the people... more
This article offers a framework for thinking about democratic representation beyond election. It argues, firstly, that modern democracy is a unique form of government made up of representative claims. To act on behalf of the people without electoral backup is therefore not foreign to modern democracy, but integral to its very operation. At the same time, not all claims to represent the people are necessarily democratic. In order to distinguish democratic from non-democratic representative claims, the article argues, secondly, that it is necessary to qualify what it means to act on behalf of the people, and that such qualification can be found in the principle of equality. The article concludes by exploring the significance of this framework for the crisis of electoral democracy.
The term ‘precarity’ has become increasingly popular as a way to capture the material and psychological vulnerability resulting from neoliberal economic reforms. This article demonstrates that such precarity is incompatible with... more
The term ‘precarity’ has become increasingly popular as a way to capture the material and psychological vulnerability resulting from neoliberal economic reforms. This article demonstrates that such precarity is incompatible with democracy. More specifically, it makes two arguments. First, and inspired by Montesquieu’s analysis of ‘the principles’, or public commitments behind different forms of government, it argues that modern democracy is a sui generis form of government animated and sustained by a principle of shared responsibility. Second, it shows that this principle is negated by the neoliberal form of governing. The neoliberal policies currently operating in many democratic countries not only push ever more people into precarious conditions where they have to compete against each other for security and status; by displacing onto individuals a responsibility that ought to be shared and divided between citizens, they corrupt the core of democracy itself. The article thus suggests that precarity is problematic not only from the standpoint of social justice, as emphasized in earlier research, but also from the perspective of democracy. Precarity contradicts the ways of life that must be regenerated in order for a democratic form of government to sustain itself over time.
The rise of authoritarian populism has forced many democracies to consider how best to defend democracy against its inner enemies. In the literature on democratic self-defense, one often distinguishes between three models: a legal... more
The rise of authoritarian populism has forced many democracies to consider how best to defend democracy against its inner enemies. In the literature on democratic self-defense, one often distinguishes between three models: a legal (militant), political (procedural) and social (integrational). If much scholarly attention is on the merits and limits of the first two models, the social model has fallen behind. This is surprising given its success in the interwar years in many Scandinavian countries, and the empirical correlation between high levels of social equality and high levels of political tolerance. This article examines the merits and limits of the social model. More specifically, it makes two contributions. First, it introduces “the social security” approach proposed by early Swedish social democratic thinkers as an alternative to “the social homogeneity” approach proposed by Hermann Heller. The aim is to show that they provide different solutions to the loser’s dilemma: the fact that losers in a democratic election must be ready to support the winners, whose decisions are at odds with their own convictions. Second, the article examines a common objection against the social security approach, namely that it politicizes democracy, and thereby undermines the distinction between procedure and substance in the defense of democracy.
Constitution as the Art of Beginning Anew. The negative outcome of the referenda on the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands raises challenging questions about the nature of constitution-making. How does one begin a... more
Constitution as the Art of Beginning Anew. The negative outcome of the referenda on the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands raises challenging questions about the nature of constitution-making. How does one begin a democracy? Does it matter who writes the constitution? The present essay addresses the distinction between the constituent and the constituted power, seen through the eyes of three thinkers: Hannah Arendt, Emmanuel Sieyes and Rogers M. Smith. It looks at Arendt's notion of beginning, Sieyes's idea of the nation as the constituent power behind government, and Smith's proposal of a people constituted through political contestation.
Inledning* Komrnunitarism ar ett relativt nytt inslag i det politisk-filosof iska landskapet. Med dess empiriska, kontextuella ansats har den bidragit till att fora upp fragan om den samhalleliga arkitekturen pa den politiska... more
Inledning* Komrnunitarism ar ett relativt nytt inslag i det politisk-filosof iska landskapet. Med dess empiriska, kontextuella ansats har den bidragit till att fora upp fragan om den samhalleliga arkitekturen pa den politiska dagordningen. Pa senare tid har man foljaktligen kunnat se hur debatten kring det goda och det ratta i viss man har overgetts till forman for en diskussion kring vad som utgor en moralisk gemenskap, dess granser och eventuella broar i forhallande till andra gemen skaper. Syftet med den har uppsatsen ar att titta narmare pa den kommunitara arkitekturen. Hur kommer mari fram till det gemensamma goda? Pa vilket satt uppfattar man det "gemensamma"? Genom att konsultera tva av kommunitarismens foretradare i dessa fragor, Michael Walzer och Alasdair Maclntyre, hoppas jag kunna visa pa den generella spanning som rader inom den kommu nitara teoribildningen. Jag kommer att argumentera for att det pa flera nivaer finns ett spanningsforhall ande mellan a ena s...
This comment discusses Hans Lindahl’s central idea of a-legality. It begins by positioning the idea of a-legality in the literature on the constituent power of the people, showing how it advances the discussion at hand. Having done that,... more
This comment discusses Hans Lindahl’s central idea of a-legality. It begins by positioning the idea of a-legality in the literature on the constituent power of the people, showing how it advances the discussion at hand. Having done that, it raises two questions regarding the conceptual and normative significance of the politics of a-legality. Is a-legality contingent on a certain form of consciousness, or a certain form of government? And, what is the basis of the normative recommendation that legal collectives ought to respond to a-legality with collective selfrestraint? The aim of both questions is to identify what bounds Lindahl’s idea of a-legality.
Minority rights protection has been one of the significant litmus tests for the success of EU conditionality. In Romania, the accession process helped transform key minority policies and improved the records whereas in Turkey, the... more
Minority rights protection has been one of the significant litmus tests for the success of EU conditionality. In Romania, the accession process helped transform key minority policies and improved the records whereas in Turkey, the traditional minority policies still linger despite the small changes in early 2000s. This paper aims to analyze how EU conditionality in minority related policies has become successful in Romania but not in Turkey through the application of the external incentives model to the cases to see under which circumstances minority rights measures were adopted and refused. The model assumes that the EU conditionality can be expected to improve minority conditions when the credibility of conditionality is higher, the conditions are determinate and the domestic adoption costs are lower in target states. Therefore, the paper attempts to test this model’s assumptions and expectations within the cases of Romania and Turkey. The paper argues that although the veto players and domestic adoption costs primarily determine the success of EU conditionality in minority rights in target states, the EU conditionality can, to an extent, undermine the power of resistant political forces by credible membership prospect and clear conditions.
İklim değişikliği ile mücadelede ülkeler küresel ve bölgeler iş birlikleri oluşturmakta olup bu iş birliklerinden Avrupa Yeşil Mutabakatı, Türkiye’nin dış ticaret faaliyetleri açısından çeşitli etkileri haiz olma potansiyeline sahiptir.... more
İklim değişikliği ile mücadelede ülkeler küresel ve bölgeler iş birlikleri oluşturmakta olup bu iş birliklerinden Avrupa Yeşil Mutabakatı, Türkiye’nin dış ticaret faaliyetleri açısından çeşitli etkileri haiz olma potansiyeline sahiptir. AB, Avrupa Yeşil Mutabakatı ile sera gazı emisyonlarını 1990 yılı oranlarına kıyasla 2030 yılına kadar %50-55 civarında azaltmayı, 2050 yılında ise sıfıra indirmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Avrupa Birliği’nin ikili ticari ilişkilerinde AYM’yi referans alacak olması Türkiye’nin AB ile ticari ilişkileri için önemli sonuçlara sahiptir. Bu sonuçların muhtemel olumsuzluklarının önünün alınabilmesi ve Avrupa Birliği’ne yapılan ihracatın AYM düzenlemelerinden etkilenmemesi için T.C. Ticaret Bakanlığı koordinasyonunda sürdürülen çalışmalar neticesinde Yeşil Mutabakat Eylem Planı hazırlanmıştır. AYM araçlarından biri olan Sınırda Karbon Düzenlemesi uygulaması Türkiye’nin AB’ye ihracatında önemli yer tutan seramik, cam, kağıt, çimento, gübre, elektrik ve orta vadede çelik ve demir dışı metaller sektörleri ilave maliyetlerle sınayacaktır. Salınımı yapılan CO2 için ton başına ücretlendirme de Türkiye’nin AB’ye yapacağı ihracatın maruz kalabileceği bir diğer maliyet olabilecektir. Bu amaçla, bu çalışmada, alanyazımda girdi-çıktı analizi kullanılarak yapılan hesaplamalar sonucunda Türkiye’nin AB’ye ihracatında SKD mekanizmalarından nasıl etkileneceği gösterilmeye çalışılmıştır. Üretim sektörünün yeşil dönüşümü, uygun finansman araçlarının sağlanması ve teknik destek söz konusu maliyetlerin üstlenilmeden rekabetçiliği sürdürmede etkili olacaktır. Anahtar kelimeler: Avrupa Yeşil Mutabakatı, Türkiye-AB ticari ilişkiler, sınırda karbon düzenlemesi, iklim politikaları
This article is written against the backdrop of widely discussed changes inJapanese foreign security policy in the 2000s * changes often attributed to anintensifying North Korea threat and growing rivalry with China. EmployingWalt’s... more
This article is written against the backdrop of widely discussed changes inJapanese foreign security policy in the 2000s
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changes often attributed to anintensifying North Korea threat and growing rivalry with China. EmployingWalt’s notion of ‘‘threat’’ (in effect, offensive power plus aggressive intentions),the thesis of this article is that China and North Korea could be construed asincreasingly threatening to Japan. The antithesis is that changes in Japaneseforeign security policy have rather taken place within the context of a publicdiscourse that has increasingly framed China and North Korea as ‘‘threats.’’ Thearticle demonstrates that, while Chinese military capability has burgeoned in thepast decade, North Korea has experienced something like military stagnation.Moreover, although both actors have histories of foreign aggression, theirrespective official discourses lack aggressive intentions vis-a`-vis Japan. The articlealso demonstrates that while Japanese government sources have kept framingNorth Korea as a threat or a grave security concern, China has merely beendepicted as ‘‘in need of further attention.’’ To understand these ambivalentresults, the article introduces the synthesizing idea that a North Korean ‘‘threat’’ might serve as a ‘‘perfect excuse’’ for changing Japanese foreign security policy inthe face of what could obviously be construed as a more pressing China threat.
