Brettschneider Democratic Rights

The Substance of Self-Government
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-2810-4
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 184 Seiten

When the Supreme Court in 2003 struck down a Texas law prohibiting homosexual sodomy, it cited the right to privacy based on the guarantee of "substantive due process" embodied by the Constitution. But did the court act undemocratically by overriding the rights of the majority of voters in Texas? Scholars often point to such cases as exposing a fundamental tension between the democratic principle of majority rule and the liberal concern to protect individual rights. Democratic Rights challenges this view by showing that, in fact, democracy demands many of these rights.

Corey Brettschneider argues that ideal democracy is comprised of three core values--political autonomy, equality of interests, and reciprocity--with both procedural and substantive implications. These values entitle citizens not only to procedural rights of participation (e.g., electing representatives) but also to substantive rights that a "pure procedural" democracy might not protect. What are often seen as distinctly liberal substantive rights to privacy, property, and welfare can, then, be understood within what Brettschneider terms a "value theory of democracy." Drawing on the work of John Rawls and deliberative democrats such as Jürgen Habermas, he demonstrates that such rights are essential components of--rather than constraints on--an ideal democracy. Thus, while defenders of the democratic ideal rightly seek the power of all to participate, they should also demand the rights that are the substance of self-government.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Brettschneider, Corey

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Kultur Menschenrechte, Bürgerrechte
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Demokratie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politische Systeme Zentralregierung
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Acknowledgments ix

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER ONE

The Value Theory of Democracy 7

I. Introduction 7

II. Procedural Democractic Theories 11

III. Procedure-Independent Theories: Epistemic and Democratic 17

IV. Conclusion 26

CHAPTER TWO

Paradigmatic Democratic Rights and Citizens as Addressees of Law 28

I. Introduction 28

II. Citizens as Authors and Addressees: Co-Originality and Citizens' Status 29

III. Rule of Law 38

IV. Freedom of Expression and Conscience 44

V. Conclusion 52

CHAPTER THREE

Democratic Contractualism: A Framework for Justifiable Coercion 54

I. Introduction 54

II. A Lexicon of Citizenship 55

III. The Principle of Democracy's Public Reason 61

IV. The Inclusion Principle 64

V. Conclusion 69

CHAPTER FOUR

Public Justification and the Right to Privacy 71

I. Introduction 71

II. Situating Democratic Privacy: A Critique of Liberal and Republican Accounts 73

III. Relevance and the Boundaries of Privacy 78

IV. Privacy, Equality, and Democratically Justifiable Coercion 85

V. Conclusion 94

CHAPTER FIVE

The Rights of the Punished 96

I. Introduction 96

II. The Need for Justification to Criminals qua Citizens: The Problem with Punishment as War 98

III. State Punishment as an Issue of Political Morality: Punishing Criminals qua Persons versus Criminals qua Citizens 101

IV. Democratic Rights Against Punishment 105

V. Capital Punishment 108

VI. Conclusion 112

CHAPTER SIX

Private Property and the Right to Welfare 114

I. Introduction 114

II. The Right to Private Property and State Coercion 115

III. Democratic Contractualism and the Right to Private Property 119

IV. Democratic Proposals for Welfare Rights 126

V. Objections 132

VI. Conclusion 135

CHAPTER SEVEN

Judicial Review: Balancing Democratic Rights and Procedures 136

I. Introduction 136

II. The Limits of a Pure Outcomes-Based Theory 140

III. The Failure of Pure Procedural Theories 145

IV. Impure Procedural and Outcomes-Based Theories 146

V. The Flaws with Formal Democratic Arguments and the Need for Examples in a Theory of Democracy 150

VI. The Objection from Benevolent Dictatorship 157

VII. Conclusion 158

Conclusion: Democratic Rights and Contemporary Politics 160

Bibliography 163

Index 169

Über Autor(innen)

Corey Brettschneider is assistant professor of political science and public policy at Brown University.