Hanging Together: Role-Based Constitutional Fellowship and the Challenge of Difference and Disagreement

ISBN-13: 9781009179287 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022 / 250 str.

Japan) Eric W. Cheng (Waseda University

Opis

Difference and disagreement can be valuable, yet they can also spiral out of control and damage liberal democracy. Advancing a metaphor of citizenship that the author terms 'role-based constitutional fellowship,' this book offers a solution to this challenge. Cheng argues that a series of 'divisions of labor' among citizens, differently situated, can help cultivate the foundational trust required to harness the benefits of disagreement and difference while preventing them from 'overheating' and, in turn, from leaving liberal democracy vulnerable to the growing influence of autocratic political forces. The book recognizes, however, that it is not always appropriate to attempt to cultivate trust, and acknowledges the important role that some forms of confrontation might play in identifying and rectifying undue social hierarchies, such as racial-ethnic hierarchies. Hanging Together thereby works to pave a middle way between deliberative and realist conceptions of democracy.

Recenzje

'In attempting to figure out how to better perpetuate our political institutions, to better unite liberal democrats whose nations seem to be buckling under the weight of combative antiliberalism, Cheng's effort is a useful and welcome one.' Ashton Kushner, The Review of Politics

Spis treści

Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction: Difference, disagreement, and civic aggression; 2. Aiming too high, aiming too low: the limits of discourse and contestation; 3. Fellowship's forefather: Moving beyond Aristotelian political friendship; 4. Broadening the base: The necessity and dilemmas of liberal nationalism; 5. Three dimensions of trust; 6. Principled pragmatists, principled purists, and the liberal democratic front; 7. Talking, shouting back, and listening better; 8. Justifying (and Constraining) salutary hypocrisy; 9. Facilitating fellowship: Translucent veils, unlikely associations, and constraints on campaigns; 10. Conclusion: The question of borders and the problem of enemies.