The Grounds of Political Legitimacy

by Fabienne Peter

Overview

Political decisions have the potential to greatly impact our lives. Think of decisions in relation to abortion or climate change, for example. This makes political legitimacy an important normative concern. But what makes political decisions legitimate? Are they legitimate in virtue of having support from the citizens? Democratic conceptions of political legitimacy answer in the affirmative. Such conceptions rightly highlight that legitimate political decision-making must be sensitive to disagreements among the citizens. But what if democratic decisions fail to track what there is most reason to do? What if a democratically elected government fails to take measures necessary to protect its population from threats related to climate change? Peter argues that the legitimacy of political decisions doesn't just depend on respect for the citizens' will; and defends a novel hybrid conception of political legitimacy, called the Epistemic Accountability conception. According to this conception, political legitimacy also depends on how political decision-making responds to evidence for what there is most reason to do. The Grounds of Political Legitimacy starts with an overview of the main ways in which philosophers have thought about political legitimacy, and identifies the epistemic accountability conception as an overlooked alternative. It then develops the epistemic accountability conception of political legitimacy and discusses its implications for legitimate political decision-making. Considering the norms that should govern political debate, it examines the role of experts in politics, and probes the responsibilities of democratically elected political leaders and as well as of citizens.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198872382
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/09/2023
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.60(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Fabienne Peter, Professor of Philosophy, University of Warwick

Fabienne Peter is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, specialising in moral and political philosophy and social epistemology. She has previously held positions at Harvard University and at the University of Basel, and she has held visiting positions at the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU and the Murphy Institute at Tulane University. She is the author of Democratic Legitimacy and a co-editor of Rationality and Commitment (OUP, with Hans Bernhard Schmid), and Public Health, Ethics, and Equity (OUP, with Sudhir Anand and Amartya Sen).

Table of Contents

1. Political Legitimacy1.1. What makes political decisions legitimate? 1.2. The normative concern with political legitimacy1.3. The meta-normative perspective2. The Political Will2.1. Will-based conceptions of political legitimacy2.2. Equal political authoritativeness2.3. The arbitrariness objection3. Political Factualism3.1. Fact-based conceptions of political legitimacy3.2. Making the right decisions3.3. The accessibility objection4. Political Cognitivism4.1. Belief-based conceptions of political legitimacy4.2. Cognitive political authority4.3. The epistemic underdetermination objection5. A Hybrid Account of the Grounds of Legitimacy5.1. Going hybrid5.2. Epistemic constraints on the political will5.3. Responding to epistemic underdetermination6. Political Deliberation6.1. Justificationism about political legitimacy6.2. Political justification and political deliberation6.3. Well-ordered political deliberation7. Epistemic Norms of Political Deliberation7.1. Epistemic accountability in political deliberation7.2. The justified belief norm7.3. The responsiveness norm8. Political Deference8.1. What is political deference? 8.2. When is political deference required? 8.3. The limits of political deference9. Responding to Political Disagreements9.1. Political disagreements9.2. Political disagreements and political justification9.3. Why democracy? Epilogue Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

"The book does an excellent job of inspiring exploration into the epistemic dimensions of political legitimacy." — Dorota Mokrosinska, Ethics

"Any serious account or work on the normative grounds of political legitimacy, or of the application of accounts of political legitimacy in real-world contexts would be enhanced by interrogating this volume." — Thomas Godfrey, Res Publica

"The book does an excellent job of inspiring exploration into the epistemic dimensions of political legitimacy. The questions it triggers regarding the possibility of a purely cognitive authority and the lacuna it leaves in dealing with citizens' obligations open up new avenues for further investigation." — Dorota Mokrosinska, Ethics

"The book does an excellent job of inspiring exploration into the epistemic dimensions of political legitimacy." — Dorota Mokrosinska, Ethics

"Any serious account or work on the normative grounds of political legitimacy, or of the application of accounts of political legitimacy in real-world contexts would be enhanced by interrogating this volume." — Thomas Godfrey, Res Publica

From the Publisher