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Rational Reasonableness: Toward A Positive Theory Of Public Reason, Gillian K. Hadfield, Stephen Macedo
Rational Reasonableness: Toward A Positive Theory Of Public Reason, Gillian K. Hadfield, Stephen Macedo
Gillian K Hadfield
Why is it important for people to agree on and articulate shared reasons for just laws, rather than whatever reasons they personally find compelling? What, if any, practical role does public reason play in liberal democratic politics? We argue that the practical role of public reason can be better appreciated by examining the structural similarities in normative and positive political theory. Specifically, we consider the analytical parallels between Rawls’ account of political liberalism and a rational choice model of legal order recently proposed by Hadfield & Weingast (2011). The positive model proposes that a shared system of reasoning—a common logic—plays …
Does The Constitutional Process Matter?, Zachary Elkins
Does The Constitutional Process Matter?, Zachary Elkins
Zachary Elkins
Constitution-making is a ubiquitous but poorly understood phenomenon. There is much speculation but relatively little evidence about the impact of different design processes on constitutional outcomes. Much of the debate reduces to the question of who is involved in the process and when. We consider two central issues in this regard. The first is the problem of institutional self-dealing, or whether governmental organs that have something to gain from the constitutional outcome should be involved in the process. The second has to do with the merits of public involvement in the process. Both of these concerns have clear normative implications …