Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T00:29:17.288Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Global political legitimacy beyond justice and democracy?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2015

Eva Erman
Eva Erman*
Affiliation:
Professor, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
*
E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Despite the broad consensus on the value of political legitimacy in global politics, there is still little agreement on what the specific regulative content of the principles of legitimacy ought to be. Two main paths have thus far been taken in the theoretical literature to respond to the legitimacy deficit in the global domain: one via the ideal of democracy, another via the ideal of justice. However, both have run into problems. The overall purpose of this paper is to examine these two paths in the endeavour to explore the possibilities of a third path, which investigates global political legitimacy (GPL) as a value that is at a basic level distinct from democracy and justice. The paper aims to fulfil two tasks. The conceptual task consists in identifying some characteristics of the concept of GPL that makes it distinct from political legitimacy generally, as well as showing its usefulness for normative theorizing. The normative task is twofold: first, to demonstrate that the value of GPL is reducible neither to democracy nor to justice; and second, to develop the contours of a dual account of GPL, in which both justice and democracy play essential roles.

Keywords

global politicspolitical legitimacydemocratic legitimacyAllen Buchanandistributive justicehuman rights
Type
Original Papers
Information
International Theory , Volume 8 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 29 - 62
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abizadeh, Arash. 2008. “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion: No Right to Unilaterally Control Your Own Borders.” Political Theory 36:37–65.Google Scholar
Abizadeh, Arash 2012. “On the Demos and Its Kin: Nationalism, Democracy, and the Boundary Problem.” American Political Science Review 104:867–882.Google Scholar
Anderson, Kym, and Hoekman, Bernard. 2006. The WTO’s Core Rules and Disciplines. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.Google Scholar
Arrhenius, Gustaf. 2005. “The Boundary Problem in Democratic Theory.” In Democracy Unbound: Basic Explorations I, edited by Folke Tersman, 14–29. Stockholm: Philosophy Department.Google Scholar
Barry, Christian, and Southwood, Nicholas. 2011. “What is Special About Human Rights?” Ethics & International Affairs 25(3):369–383.Google Scholar
Beckman, Ludvig. 2009. The Frontiers of Democracy: The Right to Vote and Its Limits. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Beitz, Charles. 1989. Political Equality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Beitz, Charles 2014. “Internal and External.” Canadian Journal of Philosophy 44(2):225–238.Google Scholar
Benhabib, Seyla. 2004. The Rights of Others: Aliens, Residents and Citizens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Besson, Samantha. 2009a. “Institutionalising Global Demoi-cracy.” In Legitimacy, Justice and Public International Law, edited by L. H. Meyer, 58–91. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Besson, Samantha 2009b. “The Authority of International Law: Lifting the State Veil.” Sydney Law Review 31:343–380.Google Scholar
Bohman, James. 2004. “Republican Cosmopolitanism.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 12:336–352.Google Scholar
Brighouse, Harry, and Fleurbaey, Marc. 2010. “Democracy and Proportionality.” Journal of Political Philosophy 18(2):137–155.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen. 1999. “Recognitional Legitimacy and the State System.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 28:46–78.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen 2002. “Political Legitimacy and Democracy.” Ethics 112:689–719.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen 2004. Justice, Legitimacy, and Self-Determination. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen 2010. “The Legitimacy of International Law.” In Philosophy of International Law, edited by Samantha Besson, and John Tasioulas, 79–96. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen 2011. “Reciprocal Legitimation: Reframing the Problem of International Legitimacy.” Politics, Philosophy, and Economics 10(1):5–19.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen 2013. The Heart of Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Allen, and Keohane, Robert O.. 2006. “The Legitimacy of Global Governance Institutions.” Ethics & International Affairs 20:405–437.Google Scholar
Caney, Simon. 2009. “The Responsibilities and Legitimacy of Economic International Institutions.” In Legitimacy, Justice and Public International Law, edited by Lukas Meyer, 92–122. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Christiano, Thomas. 1996. The Rule of the Many: Fundamental Issues in Democratic Theory. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Christiano, Thomas 2012. “Rational Deliberation Among Experts and Citizens.” In Deliberative Systems, edited by J. Mansbridge, and J. Parkinson, 27–51. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Christiano, Thomas 2013. “Authority.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. Zalta. Accessed June 2014. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/authority.Google Scholar
Christiano, Thomas Forthcoming. “Legitimacy and the International Trade Regime.” San Diego Law Review.Google Scholar
Cohen, G. A. 2008. Rescuing Justice and Equality. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Dahl, Robert. 1989. Democracy and Its Critics. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Dryzek, John. 2006. Deliberative Global Politics: Discourse and Democracy in a Divided World. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Dworkin, Ronald. 2000. Sovereign Virtue. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva. 2011. “Human Rights Do Not Make Global Democracy.” Contemporary Political Theory 10(4):463–481.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva 2013. “In Search for Democratic Agency in Deliberative Governance.” European Journal of International Relations 19(4):847–868.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva 2014a. “The Boundary Problem and the Right to Justification.” In Justice, Democracy and the Right to Justification, edited by David Owen, 535–546. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva 2014b. “The Boundary Problem and the Ideal of Democracy.” Constellations 21(4):535–546.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva, and Möller, Niklas. 2015a. “Practices and Principles: On the Methodological Turn in Political Theory.” Philosophy Compass 10(8):533–546.Google Scholar
Erman, Eva, and Möller, Niklas 2015b. “What Distinguishes the Practice-Dependent Approach to Justice?” Philosophy & Social Criticism, (Online First). doi:10.1177/0191453715580475.Google Scholar
Forst, Rainer. 2011. The Right to Justification: Elements of a Constructivist Theory of Justice, Edited by A. Allen and Translated by J. Flynn. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Forst, Rainer 2014. “Reply.” In Justice, Democracy and the Right to Justification: Rainer Forst in Dialogue, edited by David Owen, 169–216. London: Bloomsbury Academic Publishing.Google Scholar
Gilabert, Pablo, and Lawford-Smith, Holly. 2012. “Political Feasibility: A Conceptual Exploration.” Political Studies 60:809–825.Google Scholar
Goodhart, Michael. 2011. “Democratic Accountability in Global Politics: Norms, Not Agents.” Journal of Politics 73:45–60.Google Scholar
Goodin, Robert. 2007. “Enfranchising All Affected Interests and Its Alternatives.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 35:40–68.Google Scholar
Gould, Carole. 2004. Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Griffin, James. 2008. On Human Rights. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, Jürgen. 1996. Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and Democracy, Translated by W. Rehg. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Held, David. 1995. Democracy and the Global Order. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hurrell, Andrew, and Macdonald, Terry. 2012. “Global Public Power: The Subject of Principles of Global Political Legitimacy.” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 15:553–571.Google Scholar
Kingsbury, Benedict., Krisch, N., and Stewart, R.. 2005. “The Emergence of Global Administrative Law.” Law and Contemporary Problems 68(3):15–61.Google Scholar
Koenig-Archibugi, Mathias. 2011. “Is Global Democracy Possible?” European Journal of International Relations 17:519–542.Google Scholar
Landwehr, Claudia. 2010. “Discourse and Coordination: Modes of Interaction and Their Roles in Political Decision-Making.” The Journal of Political Philosophy 18:101–122.Google Scholar
Letsas, George. 2013. “The ECHR as a Living Instrument: Its Meaning and its Legitimacy.” In The European Court of Human Rights in a National, European and Global Context, edited by G. Ulfstein, A. Føllesdal, and B. Peters, 106–141. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
List, Christian, and Valentini, Laura. 2016. “The Methodology of Political Theory.” In The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Methodology, edited by Herman Cappelen, Tamar Gendler, and John Hawthorne. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lopez-Guerra, Claudio. 2005. “Should Expatriates Vote?” The Journal of Political Philosophy 13:216–234.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Terry. 2008. Global Stakeholder Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Terry 2015. “The Political Legitimacy of Liquid Authority in World Society.” Unpublished Manuscript.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Terry, and Ronzoni, Miriam. 2012. “Introduction: The Idea of Global Political Justice.” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 15:521–533.Google Scholar
Miller, Seumas. 2011. “Social Institutions.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. Zalta. Accessed February 2015. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/social-institutions.Google Scholar
Owen, David. 2012. “Constituting the Polity, Constituting the Demos: On the Place of the All Affected Interests Principle in Democratic Theory and in Resolving the Democratic Boundary Problem.” Ethics & Global Politics 5:129–152.Google Scholar
Parfit, Derek. 2007. “Reasons and Motivation.” Aristotelian Society Supplementary 71:99–130.Google Scholar
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Rawls, John 1999. The Law of Peoples. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reidy, David. 2007. “Reciprocity and Reasonable Disagreement: From Liberal to Democratic Legitimacy.” Philosophical Studies 132:243–291.Google Scholar
Rothstein, Bo, and Teorell, Jan. 2008. “What is Quality of Government? A Theory of Impartial Government Institutions.” Governance 21:165–190.Google Scholar
Sangiovanni, Andrea. 2008. “Justice and the Priority of Politics to Morality.” Journal of Political Philosophy 16:137–164.Google Scholar
Saunders, Ben. 2012. “Defining the Demos.” Politics, Philosophy & Economics 11:280–301.Google Scholar
Scholte, Jan Aart. 2005. “Civil Society and Democratically Accountable Global Governance.” In Global Governance and Public Accountability, edited by D. Held, and M. Koenig-Archibugi, 87–109. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Ian. 1999. Democratic Justice. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Michael. 1994. The Moral Problem. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Rogers. 2008. “The Principle of Constituted Identities and the Obligation to Include.” Ethics & Global Politics 1:139–153.Google Scholar
Song, Sara. 2012. “The Boundary Problem in Democratic Theory: Why the Demos Should be Bounded by the State.” International Theory 4:39–68.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Hayley, and Dryzek, John. 2012. “The Discursive Democratisation of Global Climate Governance.” Environmental Politics 21:189–210.Google Scholar
Southwood, Nicholas. 2011. “The Moral/Conventional Distinction.” Mind 120:761–802.Google Scholar
Tasioulas, John. 2013. “Human Rights, Legitimacy, and International Law.” The American Journal of Jurisprudence 58(1):1–25.Google Scholar
Tomasi, John. 2001. Liberalism Beyond Justice: Citizens, Society, and the Boundaries of Political Theory. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Valentini, Laura. 2012a. “Assessing the Global Order: Justice, Legitimacy, or Political Justice?” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 15:593–612.Google Scholar
Valentini, Laura 2012b. “Ideal vs. Non-Ideal Theory: A Conceptual Map.” Philosophy Compass 7:654–664.Google Scholar
Valentini, Laura 2013. “Justice, Disagreement and Democracy.” British Journal of Political Science 43:177–199.Google Scholar
Valentini, Laura 2014. “No Global Demos, No Global Democracy? A Systematization and Critique.” Perspectives on Politics 20(2):789–807.Google Scholar
von Bogdandy, Armin, Dann, P., and Goldmann, M.. 2010. “Developing the Publicness of Public International Law: Towards a Legal Framework for Global Governance Activities.” In The Exercise of Public Authority by International Institutions, edited by Armin von Bogdandy, 3–32. Berlin: Springer Heidelberg.Google Scholar
Wellman, Christopher. 1996. “Liberalism, Samaritanism, and Political Legitimacy.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 25:211–237.Google Scholar
Wheatley, Steven. 2013. “On the Legitimate Authority of International Human Rights Bodies.” In The Legitimacy of International Human Rights Regimes: Legal, Philosophical and Political Perspectives, edited by Andreas Føllesdal, Johan Karlsson Schaffer, and Geir Ulfstein, 84–116. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Whelan, Frederick. 1983. “Democratic Theory and the Boundary Problem.” In Liberal Democracy, edited by James Roland Pennock, and John W. Chapman, 13–47. New York, NY: New York University Press.Google Scholar
Wittgenstein, Ludwig. 1953. Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Zürn, Michael, and Joerges, Christian, eds. 2005. Law and Governance in Postnational Europe: Compliance Beyond the Nation-State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zürn, Michael, Binder, M., and Ecker-Ehrhardt, M.. 2012. “International Authority and Its Politicization.” International Theory 4(1):69–106.Google Scholar