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Perspectives on Political Science,
Spring 2001 v30 i2 p123
Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus.
(Review)_(book review) MICHAEL COULTER.
Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2001 Heldref Publications
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Klosko, George
Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus New York: Oxford University Press 271 pp., $45.00, ISBN 0-19-829234-1 Publication Date: March 2000
In Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus, George Klosko makes a
contribution to the recent debate regarding liberal political theory by
considering the relationship between liberal principles and political
sociology and social psychology. In this sense, the work fills a gap
between John Rawls's A Theory of Justice and Alan Wolfe's One Nation
after All. Klosko, a political theorist at the University of Virginia, is
also the author of The Development of Plato's Political Theory, among
many other books.
In Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus, Klosko first examines
variations of moral principles that could be adopted in liberal regimes.
The bulk of the book is devoted to an examination of values held by
citizens of existing regimes. It includes an excellent, albeit brief,
theoretical discussion of empirical research. A theoretical examination
of empirical research is often missing in works by empirical social
scientists, and political theorists rarely confront social science data.
Klosko first examines the degree to which citizens of existing liberal
political orders can be said to practice toleration. Citing a vast number
of studies, he argues that tolerance is not as widely practiced as many
contemporary liberal theorists would like. He then considers the relation
between religion and democratic values. Klosko, it seems, considers
strong religious belief to be, in large part, an impediment to the
widespread acceptance of tolerance and other democratic values. This is a
one-sided view of the relation between religion and democracy; one could
argue that certain expressions of religious belief, such as those
expressed by Roger Williams, promote liberal values. Also using survey
data, Klosko argues that in existing liberal orders there is much support
for democratic procedures--greater than for toleration.
The values to which Klosko gives primary attention--toleration and
distributive justice--make up only part of a liberal order, however. Klosko
does not discuss commitment to the role of law, respect for private
property, or industriousness. A longer account of liberal virtues can be
seen in William Galston's Liberal Purposes: Goods, Virtues, and Diversity
in the Liberal State.
The significant contribution of Democratic Procedures and Liberal
Consensus is Klosko's demonstration of the inadequacies in John Rawls's
political project, which depends on "political
constructivism"--constructing a political order in theory. Klosko
argues forcefully that liberal theorists cannot count on liberal citizens
to accept a "strong rights principle" version of liberal
principles--that on the contrary, as empirical evidence shows, a strong
rights principle is not widely accepted. Liberal theorists must look to
the political principles that actually are accepted by a majority of
liberal citizens. Liberal polities must be established on the best
possible liberal consensus. Klosko observes that "there is strong
consensus on the central political values concerning the need for
democratic procedures and individual rights" (182). At the same
time, there should be procedures that prevent illiberal actions in areas
where there is no consensus.
This work is well suited for graduate students and political theorists
interested in contemporary liberalism.
MICHAEL COULTER
Grove City College
Named Works: Democratic Procedures and Liberal Consensus (Book)
- Reviews
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