Legitimacy arises from inclusion plus deliberation filtered through reasons

Evidence

Essential to explaining this is the analysis of the meaning that this procedure acquires from the perspective of the participants. It owes its persuasiveness to an improbable combination of two conditions: on the one hand, the procedure calls for the inclusion of all those affected by possible decisions as equal participants in the political decision-making process; on the other hand, it makes the democratic decisions in which all individuals are involved together dependent on the more or less pronounced discursive character of the preceding deliberations. As a result, the inclusive formation of will becomes contingent on the force of the reasons mobilized during the preceding process of opinion formation. Inclusion corresponds to the democratic requirement that all those affected should have equal rights to participate in political will formation, while the filter of deliberation takes into account the expectation that solutions to problems should be cognitively correct and viable, and grounds the assumption that the results are rationally acceptable. This assumption can be justified, in turn, by the falsifiable supposition that, in the consultations leading up to a majority decision, all relevant topics, requisite information and suitable proposals for solutions are discussed as far as possible with arguments pro and contra. And it is this requirement of free deliberation that explains the central role of the political public sphere. Incidentally, this abstract consideration is confirmed by the historical fact that something like a ‘bourgeois public sphere’ emerged at the same time as liberal democracy, first in England and then in the United States, France and other European countries. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 16

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely defines the inclusion-plus-deliberation structure that makes ‘sheer legality’ persuasive — the two-condition formula at the heart of deliberative politics.
• XREF: This is the mechanism the reader’s stated goal flags: the second-generation counterpoint to Adorno’s critique of instrumental reason and the administered society. — connects to: Perceived legitimacy rests on engaging loyalties and fulfilling interests; Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 98; Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74 (+10 more)

Related

• Deliberative legitimacy requires considerations neutral across interest groups (similarity 0.86)
• Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results (similarity 0.82)
• Deliberative politics is constitutive of democracy, not a regulative ideal (similarity 0.80)
• Democratic elections legitimize only as outcomes of prior public deliberation, not preference aggregation (similarity 0.80)
• Power-legitimation must come from within democracy itself once unifying worldviews fade (similarity 0.79)
• Minorities accept majority rule only under a shared constitutional consensus. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Legitimacy requires a visible link between votes and policy, not just good results #expands (0.80) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 98
• Political legitimacy is an ongoing project of constructing and repairing trust #expands (0.78)
• Perceived legitimacy rests on engaging loyalties and fulfilling interests #expands (0.75)
• 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 #qualifies (0.72) — Diego Gambetta, Trust - Making and Breaking Cooperative…, 1248
• Law creates legitimacy structurally by formatting power-holders into chains of mutual recourse #expands (0.72) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 674