Democratic foundation and the boundary problem
One solution to two paradoxes
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12717536 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leonardo Fiorespino (0000-0003-1980-073X, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences in Prague, Czech Republic, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-20 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Political Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1474-8851 • E-ISSN: 1741-2730 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14748851251337326 |
| OpenAlex | W4410543038 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 31 |
The article discusses the relationship between the boundary problem in democratic theory and the paradox of democratic foundation. It argues that although these famous “democratic paradoxes” are affected by an analogous logical difficulty and equally concur in grounding the legitimacy of a “people,” they are two different problems. The recognition of their distinction helps illuminate the complexity of practical normative judgments on the legitimacy of a people. The article analyzes four theories in search of an approach that can consistently resolve both paradoxes: the all-affected principle, Sofia Näsström's theory of democracy as a spirit of emancipation, Alessandro Ferrara's redefinition of the issue based on the distinction between ethnos and demos, and David Owen's proposal to bring together the all-affected and the all-subjected principles to solve the boundary problem. The article's conclusion points to a possible tension between the two paradoxes and raises a final question: can such a tension be resolved
Democracy · Foundation (evidence · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Law · Political Philosophy and Ethics
The Spirit of Democracy
The Force of the Example
Democracy and Its Critics
Democracy and the All-Affected Principle
The Problem(s) of Constituting the Demos
Finding a fundamental principle of democratic inclusion
Transnationalizing the public sphere
Authenticity in Culture, Self, and Society
Transnationalizing the Public Sphere
The boundary problem in democratic theory
How to diagnose democratic deficits in global politics
Constituting the polity, constituting the demos
The boundaries of transnational democracy
Towards a principle of most-deeply affected
Kantian Constructivism in Moral Theory
Sovereignty Across Generations
Philosophical investigations
Of Boats and Principles
Constitutional Democracy
Dead Rights, Live Futures
The Legitimacy of the People
The Challenge of the All-Affected Principle
The All-Affected Principle and the Question of Asymmetry
Enfranchising All Affected Interests, and Its Alternatives
Democracy's Domain
Liberalism, Samaritanism, and Political Legitimacy
Reconceiving the democratic boundary problem
The Social Contract and The First and Second Discourses
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |