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Bellamy on Liberal Ideals & Real Politics

By Lawrence Solum

Richard Bellamy (University College London - Department of Political Science) has posted Dirty Hands and Clean Gloves: The Disabuse and Use of Liberal Ideals by Real Politics (European Journal of Political Thought, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Can liberal ideals clean up politicians or politics? This article doubts they can. It disputes that a ?clean? liberal person might inhabit the dirty clothes of the real politician, or that a clean depoliticised liberal constitution can constrain real world dirty politics. Nevertheless, the need for a democratic Prince to wear clean liberal gloves offers a necessary and effective political restraint. However, it also means that citizens share the hypocrisy and dirt of those who serve them - for we legitimise the dirtiness of politics by requiring politicians to seem cleaner than we know they ever can be in reality.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on April 16, 2010 (boomark / email).