Sovereignty across generations

The problem of divisive pluralism dismissed

Bibliographic Data

ID11340848
AuthorsJohan Van Der Walt (0000-0001-6747-8752, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume50
Issue10
Pages1436-1449
Publication date2024-12-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePhilosophy & Social Criticism (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0191-4537 • E-ISSN: 1461-734X
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/01914537241294010
OpenAlexW4403629227
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited5

The Rawlsian conception of constituent power in Alessandro Ferrara’s Sovereignty Across Generations is burdened by a deep contradiction that renders the central argument in the book highly questionable. On the one hand, Rawls is (correctly in my view) presented as the thinker that confronted contemporary political theory with the problem of divisive pluralism. On the other hand, Rawls is also presented (incorrectly in my view) as the thinker who then suddenly found a solution for this divisive pluralism in the ‘common values’ that all the members of these divisively pluralist societies share ‘unproblematically’. The combination of these two moves leaves one with the sense that Rawls rather frivolously put up the problem of divisive pluralism like a strawman that he could shoot down again without much ado. This article proposes a different reading of Rawls that considers him a serious thinker who did not amuse himself and his readers with strawman-problems. For this reading of Rawls, guidance is drawn from Hans Kelsen, the very thinker whom Sovereignty Across Generations casually dismisses for failing to grasp or appreciate the ‘common values’ that pluralist societies share so ‘unproblematically’

Epistemology · Law and economics · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Sovereignty · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law · Philosophy · Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access