Rawls's Practical Conception of Justice: Opinion, Tradition and Objectivity in Political Liberalism

2006 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-43
Author(s):  
Alexander Kaufman
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
The Political ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Liberal Conception ◽  
The Stability

AbstractIn Political Liberalism, Rawls emphasizes the practical character and aims of his conception of justice. Justice as fairness is to provide the basis of a reasoned, informed and willing political agreement by locating grounds for consensus in the fundamental ideas and values of the political culture. Critics urge, however, that such a politically liberal conception of justice will be designed merely to ensure the stability of political institutions by appealing to the currently-held opinions of actual citizens. In order to evaluate this concern, I suggest, it is necessary to focus on the normative character of Rawls's analysis. Rawls argues that justice as fairness is the conception of justice that citizens of modern democratic cultures should choose in reflective equilibrium, after reflecting fully upon their considered judgments regarding justice. Since judgments in reflective equilibrium are grounded in considered judgment, rather than situated opinions, I argue that the criticism fails.

Process Philosophy and Political Liberalism

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel A. Dombrowski
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Reflective Equilibrium ◽  
Process Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nonhuman Animals ◽  
Static View ◽  
Process Oriented ◽  
The Right ◽  
Political Right

In this work two key theses are defended: political liberalism is a processual (rather than a static) view and process thinkers should be political liberals. Three major figures are considered (Rawls, Whitehead, Hartshorne) in the effort to show the superiority of political liberalism to its illiberal alternatives on the political right and left. Further, a politically liberal stance regarding nonhuman animals and the environment is articulated. It is typical for debates in political philosophy to be adrift regarding the concept of method, but from start to finish this book relies on the processual method of reflective equilibrium or dialectic at its best. This is the first extended effort to argue for both political liberalism as a process-oriented view and process philosophy/theology as a politically liberal view. It is also a timely defense of political liberalism against illiberal tendencies on both the right and the left.

Notions of justice

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 79-86 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delia Lin
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Political Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Justice As Fairness ◽  
Political Conception ◽  
Liberal Culture

This paper compares the conception of justice grounded on the liberal political thought and the Chinese notion of justice deeply rooted in Confucian and Legalist theories from the standpoint of the political culture they each supports. It argues that whereas the former supports the liberal culture marked by the plurality of reasonable doctrines and by seeing persons as free and equal, the latter supports an authoritarian culture based on a dogmatic, comprehensive moral doctrine. Such cultural differences have made it difficult for the Chinese elite holding a Confucian view to negotiate and appreciate the political conception of justice as fairness. This paper suggests that it is important for a modern state to formulate philosophies that accommodate the plurality of diverse and often incompatible doctrines and also to think about justice in procedural terms. For China to achieve this requires a change of political culture.

scholarly journals Varro, the Name-Givers, and the Lawgivers: The Case of the Consuls

2021 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 588-609
Author(s):  
Valentina Arena
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Philosophical Framework ◽  
The Republic

Abstract This essay aims at identifying a tradition of lawgivers in the political culture of the late Republic. It focuses on the antiquarian tradition of the second half of the first century BC, which, it argues, should be considered part of the wider quest for legal normativism that takes place towards the end of the Republic. By reconstructing the intellectual debates on the nature of the consulship, which at the time was carried out through the means of etymological research, this essay shows that, when set within its proper philosophical framework, ancient etymological studies acted as a search for philosophical truth and, in the case of Varro, identify the early kings as the first Roman lawgivers. In turn, the language of political institutions and its etymologies, conceived along philosophical lines, could become a weapon in the constitutional battles of the late Republic.

Initiatives, Referenda and Socialism in Switzerland

1970 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 307-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth R. Libbey
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Environment ◽  
Political Actor ◽  
Political Behaviour ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
British Labour

POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS IN DEMOCRATIC STATES HAVE USUALLY COME into existence as the manifestation of a principle of political philosophy or as the result of a compromise among forces with different aspirations for the polity. Often both factors have been involved. Certainly the consequences for political behaviour of introducing any particular structure have been of concern to its architects, but many of these consequences are unforeseeable and the actual impact of an institutional change or the character of a formal role may in time become quite different from that intended.For a political actor, such as an individual, an interest group or a party, formal structures are given attributes of the political environment. Along with the more diffuse qualities of the political culture, they constitute the framework within which political actors must compete for influence over public policy. This framework, both formal and informal, is uneven in its effects on the fortunes of the various political forces. It favours some approaches and some groups more and in different ways than it favours others. The British Labour Party, with its concentrated voting strength, is disadvantaged by the single-member district/plurality electoral system, while its counterpart in Germany is able to maximize its strength in a system of proportional representation.

scholarly journals Transforming Masculinist Political Cultures? Doing Politics in New Political Institutions

2009 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Jones ◽  
Nickie Charles ◽  
Charlotte Aull Davies
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Significant Proportion ◽  
Organisational Culture ◽  
Institutional Arrangements ◽  
The Political ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Gender Parity ◽  
Political Cultures

In the devolved legislative assemblies of Scotland and Wales the proportion of women representatives is approaching parity. This is in marked contrast to Westminster where one in five MPs are women. In this paper we explore the extent to which the masculinist political cultures characterising established political institutions are being reproduced in the National Assembly for Wales or whether its different gendering, both in the numbers of women representatives and in terms of its institutional framework, is associated with a more feminised political and organisational culture. Drawing on interviews with half the Assembly Members, women and men, we show that the political style of the Assembly differs from that of Westminster and that Assembly Members perceive it as being more consensual and as embodying a less aggressive and macho way of doing politics. AMs relate this difference to the gender parity amongst Assembly Members, to the institutional arrangements which have an ‘absolute duty’ to promote equality embedded in them, and to the desire to develop a different way of doing politics. We suggest that the ability to do politics in a more feminised and consensual way relates not only to the presence of a significant proportion of women representatives, but also to the nature of the institution and the way in which differently gendered processes and practices are embedded within it. Differently gendered political institutions can develop a more feminised political culture which provides an alternative to the masculinist political culture characterising the political domain.

scholarly journals Political culture as a factor of civilized lobbying establishment in contemporary Russia

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 135-150
Author(s):  
N. V. Karpova
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
Political Orientations ◽  
Legal Foundations ◽  
And Behavior ◽  
Representation Of Interests ◽  
The Impact

The article is devoted to the study of civilized lobbyism formation in contemporary Russia in the context of the political culture peculiarities. The author explains the use of the concept of “civilized lobbyism” from the standpoint of the presence of various interpretations of lobbying in political science, which prevents a clear separation of legitimate and illegitimate forms of interests’ representation, while the object of research is primarily the legal technologies of influence on power. Political culture is regarded as one of the subjective factors determining the functioning of the mechanisms of interests’ representation in the political system, as well as the specifics of lobbying activities in each particular state. The influence of political culture on the process of lobbying in Russia is analyzed not only at the level of political orientations and behavior of individuals and groups, but also at the level of institutional structures. To study the impact of the political culture on the formation of social practices of lobbying, the author refers to the institutional concept of D. North, in which the mechanism of functioning of social and political institutions is revealed through the correlation of formal and informal rules, norms, attitudes and behaviours. In the context of the development of the democratic representation of interests in contemporary Russia particular attention is given to the problem of preserving and dominating historically established authoritarian orientations in the relations of society and power, as well as the traditions of paternalism and clientellism. However, the author believes that it is not correct to reduce the influence from the political culture mostly to the national traditions. It is concluded that the fundamental condition for the development of civilized lobbying in present day Russia is the is the parallel formation of legal foundations and the corresponding matrix of political culture, both at the level of subjects of lobbying relations and at the level of interests’ representation institutions.

scholarly journals A Comparative Analysis of Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of Political Culture

wisdom ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 38-47
Author(s):  
Emil Ordukhanyan
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Political ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Theoretical Approaches

In modern world various transformations have an impact on social and political processes of the society. Even cultural changes somehow depend on these transformations. Therefore, social and political phenomena need new approaches for their study, where the political culture has its proper relevance. The article explores the theoretical and methodological foundations of political culture based on the analysis of foreign and Armenian scholars works. The behavioral, psychological, comparative and other approaches as well as methods of political culture analysis are examined. In a result of generalization of theoretical approaches and summarizing the outcomes obtained from a comparative analysis of political culture methodologies, we can define political culture as the aggregate of political ideas, knowledge, traditions and values; as a whole of political participation and behavior models; as a relatively stable link between political consciousness and socialization, between stages and levels of political communication tools and political institutions, which defines the political process and which is expressed through the political discourse.

Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Cornwell
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Roman Imperialism ◽  
Early Stages ◽  
Single Person ◽  
Pax Romana ◽  
The Stability

Peace had dominated the discourse on the nature of Roman imperialism as the political institutions of the state were questioned and debated during the civil wars of the 40s and 30s BC, to the slow reformulation of powers around the single person of Augustus. The evolution of an imperial conception of peace from the early stages of the representations of pax augusta during the slow birth of the new political structures to a fully fledged idea of the pax Romana comes to fruition in Vespasian’s templum Pacis by the mid-70s AD and illustrates the integral value and position that peace had gained in a Roman imperial vision. The accomplishment of pax represented not only the stability and security brought to the state in a post-civil war world, but also the control over an Empire that such a peace enabled.

Political Culture

2019 ◽  
pp. 591-596
Author(s):  
Detlef Pollack
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
Political Order ◽  
The Political ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
East Central ◽  
East Europe ◽  
Diffuse Support ◽  
The Stability

Political culture studies presuppose that the stability of political order considerably depends upon cultural support of the population. In the event of political and economic transformation political culture studies raise the question whether internalized value orientations can change as quickly as political and economic structures to be conducive for the stabilization of the new political order. In order to answer the question of how far political orders in the countries of East Central and Eastern Europe are culturally legitimized, this chapter draws a distinction between the evaluation of the performance of the political system (specific support) and the evaluation of democracy as an idea and value (diffuse support). As far as the idea of democracy is concerned, the majority of the populations in the countries in East and Central East Europe appreciate democracy; as far as its current performance is concerned, they are, however, dissatisfied with democracy.

Socjalizacja i edukacja polityczna, jako ważne determinanty kultury politycznej

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (16) ◽  
pp. 31-51
Author(s):  
Grzegorz Piwnicki
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Political System ◽  
The Political ◽  
Literal Sense ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of

It is recognized that politics is a part of social life, that is why it is also a part of culture. In this the political culture became in the second half of the twentieth century the subject of analyzes of the political scientists in the world and in Poland. In connection with this, political culture was perceived as a component of culture in the literal sense through the prism of all material and non-material creations of the social life. It has become an incentive to expand the definition of the political culture with such components as the political institutions and the system of socialization and political education. The aim of this was to strengthen the democratic political system by shifting from individual to general social elements.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document