Demokratins gränser. Ett liberalt alternativ till påverkanprincipen
Democratic theoryBoundary problemLiberalismCosmopolitanismPolitical and administrative sciencesStatsvetenskapFörvaltningskunskapLaw and Political Science
What every theory of democracy has in common is a reference to ?a people? who are, in one way or another, collectively self-governing. Given that, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the so called boundary problem of democratic theory, or, in other words, the question of who should be included in the democratic community. Lately, the historically given boundaries have been questioned in favour of a cosmopolitan democracy. Still, little has been said about the boundary problem in general, especially from a theoretical point of view. This paper is an attempt to help filling that gap. Drawing on the liberal notion of individual autonomy, it is argued that democracy should be bounded following three principles, lexically ordered (in the Rawlsian sense). The principles claim that democracy should be bounded so to (1) include everyone whose basic liberties are affected by a decision, (2) include everyone who has moral rights to claim the resources affected by a decision and (3) everything else considered, make the democratic community as small as possible.