Majority rule depends on citizens committing to the common good over self-interest

Evidence

A ‘liberal’ political culture is not a breeding ground for ‘libertarian’ attitudes; it calls for an orientation to the common good, albeit one that makes modest demands on its addressees. An outvoted minority will not be able to accept majority decisions if all citizens base their electoral decisions exclusively on their short-term self-interest. A sufficient – and, moreover, representative – proportion of citizens must also be willing to perform the role of democratic co-legislators with an orientation to the common good. — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 24

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes ‘liberal’ from ‘libertarian’ political culture — a definitional clarification central to the deliberative-democracy argument.
• XREF: connects to: Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74; High authoritarians adopt principles opportunistically to justify self-interest; Majority rule is not self-evidently correct and requires an extra ideological dignity (+6 more)

Related

• Majority rule can dominate minorities and so fails as a guard against arbitrariness (similarity 0.79)
• Minorities accept majority rule only under a shared constitutional consensus. (similarity 0.79)
• Successful regimes suppress factional self-interest through inclusive aspiration and ethics (similarity 0.79)
• Majority rule is not self-evidently correct and requires an extra ideological dignity (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Successful regimes suppress factional self-interest through inclusive aspiration and ethics #corroborates (0.90) — Abdi Ismail Samatar, Africa’s First Democrats, 109
• Majority rule is not self-evidently correct and requires an extra ideological dignity #expands (0.85)
• Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace #corroborates (0.82) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74
• High authoritarians adopt principles opportunistically to justify self-interest #contradicts (0.78)
• Sacred values resist trade-offs and override rational self-interest in decision making. #complicates (0.75) — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 545
• Liberal common-good theory rationalizes reckless private interest #contradicts (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 797
• Popular sovereignty is a fiction masking interest-group rule #contradicts (0.72) — Wael Hallaq, Restating Orientalism, 408