Quran Burnings: A case study in the implications of political moralism and of political realism

One of the methodological debates in political theory over the last decade has concerned the criticism by self-styled political realists of so-called political moralists. One can see this debate as a criticism within analytical political theory from positions inspired by critical theory against more traditional analytical normative political theory. Bernard Williams’s appeal in one of the seminal realism papers to what he called “the critical theory principle” is a case in point. The debate between political realism and political moralism has taken place at a high level of abstraction. As such, this debate has in a sense been overtaken by more recent methodological debates focused on what political theorists actually do, and on how they employ specific and concrete methods to do so. Rather than viewing political moralism and political realism as overarching positions or approaches to politics – which is problematic, both because political moralism is a label put on others by self-styled realists as a form of criticism, and because political realism is many and very different things – this paper seeks to discuss what the distinction between moralism and realism could mean in the study of a specific case. The question then is not so much what meta-level views one adopts, e.g. about the nature of political normativity, or on which side of an abstract methodological distinction one wants to place oneself as a political theorist, but on the specific argumentative moves one can make in the actual study and discussion of politics. The paper focuses on the recent case of Quran burnings, which have taken place in especially Sweden and Denmark in 2023. These events have created a political and security crisis in several senses; the Quran burnings were invoked by Turkey as a reason to halt the approval of Sweden’s entry into NATO in a very precarious security situation for Sweden and NATO in light of the ongoing war in Ukraine, and the burnings also increased the threat of terrorism against both countries, as witnessed by the murder of two Swedes in Belgium in the fall of 2023. This moved the Danish government to propose new limits on freedom of speech, which have both been heavily criticized on principled grounds. The paper investigates the case of Quran burnings and the political responses to them with a focus on how one can view criticisms of these acts and events as forms of political realism and political moralism. The paper does not discuss for or against realism or moralism as general views or conducts exegetical discussions of the different meanings of these terms, but constructs realism and moralism as specific approaches or moves that political theorists engaging with this case can adopt or employ. The aim of this investigation is both to bring out different perspectives on the case, to use the case and the discussion of it as a foil to articulate what realism and moralism might mean in practical methodological terms, and to investigate the possible normative implications of realism and moralism thus understood.