How do we make liberal democratic law together?: Remarks on Van der Walt’s notion of a ‘diffuse we’

Chiara Raucea

doi:10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004

How do we make liberal democratic law together? Remarks on Van der Walt’s notion of a ‘diffuse we’

Chiara Raucea

Public Law & Governance

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Scientific › peer-review

Abstract

In the last section of the article ‘Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democracy’, Van der Walt introduces the notion of a ‘diffuse we’ to delineate the role that constituent power plays in his account of liberal democratic law.
This contribution raises questions about Van der Walt’s understanding of a liberal democratic community as a plural self. The first part of the article reviews some of the core passages of his ‘The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law’ to highlight the different accounts of the unity of a liberal democratic community, which Van der Walt rejects. The last part of the paper questions the (epistemic) conditions under which the ‘diffuse we’ proposed by Van der Walt can socially cooperate and express a shared commitment to be bound by liberal democratic norms.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	56-71
Number of pages	16
Journal	Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy (NJLP)
Volume	52
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004
Publication status	Published - 2023
Event	The Fragility of Liberal Democratic Law’ - Montaigne Centre for Rule of Law and Administration of Justice, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands Duration: 23 Sept 2022 → 23 Sept 2022 https://www.uu.nl/en/events/the-fragility-of-liberal-democratic-law

Keywords

liberal democratic law
plural-self
self-autorship of democratic law
costituent power

Access to Document

10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004

Global Law & Governance
Adams, M. (Researcher), Arnoldussen, T. (Researcher), Augenstein, D. (Researcher), Bastmeijer, K. (Researcher), Bijlmakers, S. (Researcher), Boot, E. (Researcher), Bot, M. (Researcher), De ruysscher, D. (Researcher), Fleurke, F. (Researcher), Goodwin, M. (Researcher), Goossens, J. (Researcher), Groenleer, M. (Researcher), Grover, L. (Researcher), Hendriks, F. (Researcher), Jägers, N. (Researcher), Karsten, N. (Researcher), Leenknegt, G.-J. (Researcher), Lesaffer, R. (Researcher), Lindahl, H. (Researcher), Maleki, A. (Researcher), Paiement, P. (Researcher), Partiti, E. (Researcher), Rajkovic, N. (Researcher), Raucea, C. (Researcher), Rombouts, B. (Researcher), Somsen, H. (Researcher), Trouwborst, A. (Researcher), Tzankova, I. (Researcher), Verschuuren, J. (Researcher), Wilthagen, T. (Researcher), Wolf, E. (Researcher), Wolswinkel, J. (Researcher), Zouridis, S. (Researcher), van Hulst, M. (Principal Investigator), van Waas, L. (Researcher), van der Schyff, G. (Researcher), Hirsch Ballin, E. (Researcher), Meuwese, A. (Researcher), Van Hulle, I. (Researcher), Stapper, M. (Researcher), Clements, R. (Researcher), Kari, V. (Researcher), Sipiorski, E. (Researcher), Mooij, A. (Researcher), den Hollander, M. (Researcher), Oosterom-Staples, H. (Researcher), van Bockel, B. (Researcher), Cavalcanti, M. (Researcher), Delgado, L. (Researcher), Geuens, M. (Researcher), Koenraad, R. (Researcher), Leach, M. (Researcher), Leijten, I. (Researcher), Leloup, M. (Researcher), Lukkari, H. (Researcher), Muslu, Z. (Researcher), Palombo, D. (Researcher), Bazzan, G. (Researcher), Frins, R. (Researcher), Gkliati, M. (Researcher), Kempeneer, S. (Researcher), Ranchordás, S. (Researcher), Timmermans, N. (Researcher), Huisman, P. (Researcher), Kaufmann, R. (Researcher), van Ostaaijen, J. (Researcher) & in 't Veld, M. (Researcher)
1/01/19 → 31/12/23
Project: Research project

Cite this

@article{ee08baee302547d6b3082d372dfb5148,

title = "How do we make liberal democratic law together?: Remarks on Van der Walt{\textquoteright}s notion of a {\textquoteleft}diffuse we{\textquoteright}",

abstract = "In the last section of the article {\textquoteleft}Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democracy{\textquoteright}, Van der Walt introduces the notion of a {\textquoteleft}diffuse we{\textquoteright} to delineate the role that constituent power plays in his account of liberal democratic law. This contribution raises questions about Van der Walt{\textquoteright}s understanding of a liberal democratic community as a plural self. The first part of the article reviews some of the core passages of his {\textquoteleft}The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law{\textquoteright} to highlight the different accounts of the unity of a liberal democratic community, which Van der Walt rejects. The last part of the paper questions the (epistemic) conditions under which the {\textquoteleft}diffuse we{\textquoteright} proposed by Van der Walt can socially cooperate and express a shared commitment to be bound by liberal democratic norms. ",

keywords = "liberal democratic law, plural-self, self-autorship of democratic law, costituent power",

author = "Chiara Raucea",

year = "2023",

doi = "10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004",

language = "English",

volume = "52",

pages = "56--71",

journal = "Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy (NJLP)",

issn = "2213-0713",

number = "1",

note = "The Fragility of Liberal Democratic Law{\textquoteright} ; Conference date: 23-09-2022 Through 23-09-2022",

url = "https://www.uu.nl/en/events/the-fragility-of-liberal-democratic-law",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - How do we make liberal democratic law together?

T2 - The Fragility of Liberal Democratic Law’

AU - Raucea, Chiara

PY - 2023

Y1 - 2023

N2 - In the last section of the article ‘Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democracy’, Van der Walt introduces the notion of a ‘diffuse we’ to delineate the role that constituent power plays in his account of liberal democratic law. This contribution raises questions about Van der Walt’s understanding of a liberal democratic community as a plural self. The first part of the article reviews some of the core passages of his ‘The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law’ to highlight the different accounts of the unity of a liberal democratic community, which Van der Walt rejects. The last part of the paper questions the (epistemic) conditions under which the ‘diffuse we’ proposed by Van der Walt can socially cooperate and express a shared commitment to be bound by liberal democratic norms.

AB - In the last section of the article ‘Rawls, Habermas and Liberal Democracy’, Van der Walt introduces the notion of a ‘diffuse we’ to delineate the role that constituent power plays in his account of liberal democratic law. This contribution raises questions about Van der Walt’s understanding of a liberal democratic community as a plural self. The first part of the article reviews some of the core passages of his ‘The Concept of Liberal Democratic Law’ to highlight the different accounts of the unity of a liberal democratic community, which Van der Walt rejects. The last part of the paper questions the (epistemic) conditions under which the ‘diffuse we’ proposed by Van der Walt can socially cooperate and express a shared commitment to be bound by liberal democratic norms.

KW - liberal democratic law

KW - plural-self

KW - self-autorship of democratic law

KW - costituent power

U2 - 10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004

DO - 10.5553/NJLP/221307132023052001004

M3 - Article

SN - 2213-0713

VL - 52

SP - 56

EP - 71

JO - Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy (NJLP)

JF - Netherlands Journal of Legal Philosophy (NJLP)

IS - 1

Y2 - 23 September 2022 through 23 September 2022

ER -

How do we make liberal democratic law together? Remarks on Van der Walt’s notion of a ‘diffuse we’

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Global Law & Governance

Cite this