{"id":4096,"date":"2025-03-31T15:22:29","date_gmt":"2025-03-31T14:22:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/?page_id=4096"},"modified":"2025-09-03T11:32:15","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:32:15","slug":"democratic-legitimacy-and-the-real-world","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/mancept-workshops\/list-of-panels-a-z-2025\/democratic-legitimacy-and-the-real-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic Legitimacy and the Real World"},"content":{"rendered":"

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ next_background_color=”#000000″ global_module=”322″][et_pb_fullwidth_menu global_parent=”322″ menu_id=”8″ submenu_direction=”downwards” fullwidth_menu=”off” module_class=”main-navigation” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_layout=”dark” \/][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ module_class=”header-image-section” _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”0px||0px|” custom_css_main_element=”padding-top:0px” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#000000″][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”header-image” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/sites.manchester.ac.uk\/mancept\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/257\/2022\/02\/Oxford-Roadcrop.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ border_color_all=”#ffffff” custom_margin=”0px|||” animation_direction=”left” use_border_color=”off” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.74″ custom_padding=”||0px|” transparent_background=”off” prev_background_color=”#000000″ next_background_color=”#1d1d1d”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”||0px|” custom_margin=”||0px|” parallax_method_1=”off” module_class=”breadcrumbs-row” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Breadcrumbs (do not remove)” module_class=”breadcrumbs” _builder_version=”3.17.6″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” module_alignment=”left” custom_css_main_element=”border-bottom: 1px solid #ececed;” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid”]<\/p>\nMANCEPT<\/a><\/span><\/span>\n

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Democratic Legitimacy and the Real World<\/h1>\n

Room – Roscoe 2.10<\/em><\/p>\n

Matej C\u00edbik (Central European University, Vienna); Attila Mr\u00e1z (ELTE E\u00f6tv\u00f6s Lor\u00e1nd University, Budapest)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even the strongest democracies in the Global North and West fall short of the ambitious ideals set by democratic theory. Around the world, liberal democracies face rising challenges\u2014from populism and oligarchy to the growing threat of autocratization\u2014moving many ever further away from these ideals. Moreover, electoral but non-democratic regimes have expanded globally.<\/p>\n

How does political philosophy make sense of these trends? Do the tools and frameworks developed in analytic political philosophy still respond to our realities? This panel explores new directions in political philosophy and theory, inviting contributions that examine key issues and propose fresh approaches to the established debates concerning democratic legitimacy, authority, and the ethics of political participation\u2014with particular attention to the above phenomena.<\/p>\n

The expanding literature on non-ideal theory (e.g., H\u00e4nel & M\u00fcller 2024) has examined what theories of justice can say about institutional reform in societies that fall far short of just ideals, as well as the ethics of political action under conditions of severe injustice\u2014from voting to civil disobedience and even uncivil resistance. However, there is still much room for similar reflection on how normative theories of democratic legitimacy and authority (e.g., Applbaum 2019, Buchanan 2002, Christiano 2008) can help us think about (re)building or (re)forming democratic institutions in flawed or non-democratic contexts, and how democratic ideals should guide political action in such settings.<\/p>\n

Realist approaches to democratic theory have stressed the need to theorize deeply flawed democracies as well as outright non-democratic regimes, calling for more nuanced perspectives on legitimacy, authority, and political action in such cases (e.g., Bagg 2022, Jubb 2024, Schedler 2021, Sz\u0171cs 2023). Meanwhile, scholars outside the realist camp have also questioned whether ideal theories of democratic legitimacy and authority (e.g., Christiano 2008, Kolodny 2014, Habermas 1973) provide the right tools for analyzing autocratic regimes, democratic backsliding, or de-democratization (Wolkenstein 2023), or for guiding political action under autocracy (e.g., Kirshner 2014, 2022). Yet, while these realist and critical perspectives offer valuable insights, they leave us in need of more normative reflection on these non-ideal conditions with an action-guiding ambition\u2014particularly in ways that connect back to democratic ideals.<\/p>\n

This panel seeks contributions that critically examine the concepts, theories, and arguments used to justify or challenge the legitimacy, authority, or moral value of liberal democracies. Our aim is to explore how these frameworks apply to deeply flawed democracies or non-democratic regimes. Ultimately, our goal is to develop a theoretical toolkit that is both empirically grounded and morally ambitious\u2014one that allows us to better understand and evaluate under-theorized regimes, their institutions, and guide political actions within them.<\/p>\n

Paper topics include but are not limited to:<\/p>\n