Transnational justice and democracy

  • The title I have chosen seems to signal a tension, even a contradiction, in a number of respects. Democracy appears to be a form of political organisation and government in which, through general and public participatory procedures, a sufficiently legitimate political will is formed which acquires the force of law. Justice, by contrast, appears to be a value external to this context which is not so much linked to procedures of “input” or “throughput” legitimation but is understood instead as an output- or outcome-oriented concept. At times, justice is even understood as an otherworldly idea which, when transported into the Platonic cave, merely causes trouble and ends up as an undemocratic elite project. In methodological terms, too, this difference is sometimes signalled in terms of a contrast between a form of “worldly” political thought and “abstract” and otherworldly philosophical reflection on justice. In my view, we are bound to talk past the issues to be discussed under the heading “transnational justice and democracy” unless we first root out false dichotomies such as the ones mentioned. My thesis will be that justice must be “secularised” or “grounded” both with regard to how we understand it and to its application to relations beyond the state.

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Metadaten
Author:Rainer ForstGND
URN:urn:nbn:de:hebis:30-102314
Parent Title (German):Normative Orders Working Paper : Normative Orders, Cluster of Excellence at Goethe University Frankfurt, Main ; 2011,04
Series (Serial Number):Normative orders working paper : Normative Orders, Cluster of Excellence at Goethe University Frankfurt, Main (2011, 04)
Document Type:Working Paper
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2011/05/05
Year of first Publication:2011
Publishing Institution:Universitätsbibliothek Johann Christian Senckenberg
Release Date:2011/05/05
Tag:Critique; Democracy; Equality; Justification; Transnational Justice
GND Keyword:Demokratie; Gerechtigkeit
HeBIS-PPN:246838418
Institutes:Gesellschaftswissenschaften / Gesellschaftswissenschaften
Exzellenzcluster / Exzellenzcluster Die Herausbildung normativer Ordnungen
Dewey Decimal Classification:3 Sozialwissenschaften / 32 Politikwissenschaft / 320 Politikwissenschaft
Sammlungen:Universitätspublikationen
Licence (German):License LogoDeutsches Urheberrecht