Abstract
The paper offers five desiderata on a realist normative theory of politics: that it should avoid moralism, deontologism, transcendentalism, utopianism, and vanguardism. These desiderata argue for a theory that begins from values rooted in a people’s experience; that avoids prescribing a collective deontological constraint; that makes the comparison of imperfect regimes possible; that takes feasibility and sustainability into account; and that makes room for the claims of democracy. The paper argues, in the course of exploring the desiderata, that a neo-republican philosophy of government does pretty well in satisfying them.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 320-333 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 4 May 2017 |