Government for the people: The primacy of substance in the justification of democracy

Thesis

Many political philosophers believe that sometimes we ought to tolerate substantive injustice for the sake of the intrinsic importance of democracy. In this thesis, I argue that they are mistaken. The substantive justice of outcomes has primacy over the putative intrinsic procedural justice of democracy. This is a very strong form of instrumentalism: if we face a choice between a minor substantive injustice and massive political inequality, then we ought to accept the political inequality....

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Authors: Halstead, J

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-qmrn5jmjz
• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford