The universalist-contextualist dispute concerns liberal democracy’s universal validity
Evidence
Let’s begin by scrutinizing me debate between contexrualisrs and universalists. One of the most contentious issues among political theorisa in recent years is at the centre of that debate and it is a crucial one, since it concerns the very nature of liberal democracy. Should liberal democracy be envisaged as the rational solution to the political question of how to organize human coexistence? Does it therefore embody the just society, the one that should be universally accepted by all rational and reasonable individuals? Or does it merely represent one form of political order among other possible ones? A political form of human coexistence, which, under certain conditions, can be deemed ‘just’, but that must also be seen as the product of a particular history, with specific historical, cultural and geographical conditions of existence. — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 284
Categorization
- DEFINE: Defines the core stakes of the universalist vs contextualist debate over how to characterize liberal democracy.
- XREF: connects to: Acknowledging other just societies forces liberal democracy to renounce universalist claims — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 285; Rationalist-universalists hold political theory can establish one universally valid good regime — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 289; Liberal-democratic institutions cannot be given a context-independent rational foundation — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 297 (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Rationalist-universalists hold political theory can establish one universally valid good regime
#exemplifies(0.90) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 289 - Liberal-democratic institutions cannot be given a context-independent rational foundation
#expands(0.85) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 297 - Contextualist political theory denies any culture-free standpoint for judgment
#expands(0.78) — Chantal Mouffe, The Democratic Paradox, 291 - The relativism-universalism dispute obscures what really matters in human rights
#qualifies(0.75)