Real-World Legitimacy and Real-World Justice in International Political Theory: Which Methodology?

Abstract

This panel invites papers about foundational methodological questions in theorising justice and legitimacy at the international level. Recent debates have seen a growing dissatisfaction with 'ideal political theory'; in particular with its supposed excessive reliance on purely moral argumentation in addressing political problems. In international political theory, this dissatisfaction has expressed itself especially in criticism of ideal theories putting forward far-reaching cosmopolitan visions of both distributive justice and democracy as inadequately addressing the questions of how, and by whom, these are to be brought about. Critical theoretical movements include 'political realism', which is experiencing renewed interest; 'comparative' political theory focusing on agreement on piece-meal policy improvements , such as demanded by Amartya Sen in recent work criticising 'ideal theory'; theories of 'practice-dependence', which argue that a political theory capable of yielding properly action-guiding principles has to develop such principles on the basis of an account of existing practices and institutions; and, finally, approaches in critical theory, which insist that proposals for reform of inadequate institutions must be based on a thorough theoretical account of the social forces finding expression in them. The panel aims at comparing advantages and disadvantages of these theoretical approaches, and on bringing them into dialogue. Possible questions to be addressed by papers are: how well do these approaches do in avoiding the objection of being biased in favour of the 'status quo'? Are they more suitable for addressing issues of international political legitimacy than issues of justice? Should they aim at replacing, or at supplementing, ideal theory? Papers comparing differing approaches, and focusing on their methodological fundamentals, are especially welcome; as are papers explicitly and exemplarily applying one of these approaches to a particular issue in international political theory.

Title	Details
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Normative Standards for Global Institutions: Legitimacy, Not Practice-Dependent Justice	View Paper Details