How political is Republicanism? Walking the fine line between moralism and realism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12609666 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dorothea Gädeke (Utrecht University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 604-615 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1369-8230 • E-ISSN: 1743-8772 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/13698230.2022.2042957 |
| OpenAlex | W4214846954 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 14 |
‘Politics comes first’. This commitment to an approach to normative theorizing that avoids controversial moralistic assumptions lies at the heart of Richard Bellamy’s defence of republican intergovernmentalism. However, a closer analysis of his argument for the primacy of politics reveals a tension in his account: In seeking to avoid a moralist approach, he seems to be torn between a Kantian Republicanism and a Williamsian Realism – while still holding on to some moralist intuitions. I show how this creates ambiguities on each of the three steps of his core argument, the distinction between legitimacy and justice, the defence of non-domination as the standard of legitimacy and the institutional proposal of a republican intergovernmentalism. And I propose to solve them by strengthening the Kantian Republicanism side of his approach, which, or so I will argue, can walk the fine line between moralism and realism. While – on my reading – this Kantian Republicanism already forms the heart of Bellamy’s account, it would require adjusting the realist conceptual framework on which he relies. And so my proposal is meant as an invitation to engage the underlying and intriguing question that Bellamy’s account raises: in what sense and to what extent is republicanism – whether of a Kantian or any other kind – a political political theory
Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · European union · Intergovernmentalism · Legitimacy · Morality · Normative · Political science · Politics · Realism · Sociology · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theory and Influence
A Republican Europe of States
Political Constitutionalism
On the People's Terms
From Neo-Republicanism to Critical Republicanism
A General Theory of Domination and Justice
A Kantian Republican Conception of Justice as Nondomination
Towards a Critical Theory of Transnational Justice
Republicanism
Does a Mugger Dominate? Episodic Power and the Structural Dimension of Domination
The Democratic Minimum
Between Utopianism and Realism
Which Republicanism, Whose Freedom
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |