Deliberative legitimacy requires considerations neutral across interest groups

Evidence

In a republic in which no one is to be dominated, and in which public decision-making is to track everyone’s relevant interests and ideas, the considerations relevant will be required to have a characteristically neutral cast: they will be constrained not to favour any one sector of opinion or interest over another. In legislative decisions, the considerations relevant are likely to be whatever considerations can be brought forward as reasons that all have to countenance as pertinent, under accepted canons of reasoning. In administrative and judicial decisions, they will be the more specific considerations that are established as relevant under the laws that govern the operation of those arms of government, though in hard cases—in cases where the laws are relatively silent—they may extend to include the more general considerations that would be relevant to legislators. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 854

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Rawlsian public reason and Scanlonian contractualism; connects to Arendt’s impartiality of judgement in political theory. — connects to: Legitimacy arises from inclusion plus deliberation filtered through reasons — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 16; Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74; Political legitimacy requires free speech, association, and representation — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1248 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Legitimacy arises from inclusion plus deliberation filtered through reasons #expands (0.82) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 16
• Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results #corroborates (0.80) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 98
• Democratic elections legitimize only as outcomes of prior public deliberation, not preference aggregation #expands (0.78) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 94
• Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace #expands (0.75) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74
• Political legitimacy requires free speech, association, and representation #expands (0.75) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1248