Naming democracy a mere procedure does not strip its normative content

Evidence

Whether many or few people demand a political good does not make it more or less normative in character. One should be wary of claims about “no normative judgement.” Some describe the concept of democracy as a decision-making procedure. This is true, but there is a significant set of normative values about individual liberties, rights, etc. that underlie democracy as a decision-making procedure. — Gary Goertz, Social Science Concepts and Measurement, 90

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Reframes contested political concepts as inescapably carrying normative commitments, not just semantic content — it undercuts the whole positivist instinct to quarantine values.