Political Authority

Table of Contents

1. Frontmatter

2. Chapter 1. Political Authority

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter characterizes political authority as rightful control. It argues that political institutions and their assigned powers control for the effects of public interest problems and rightfully control for these effects when they operate in ways consistent with justified substantive political principles. The characterization follows from a familiar formulation of political authority as a three-place relation between people, principles, and institutions, together with the following suggestion about constructivism, namely, constructivism is a method for formulating the content, scope, and justification of political principles as solutions to problems that warrant public attention.

3. Chapter 2. Political Constructivism

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter describes the philosophical ambitions of political constructivism along with several criticisms. The philosophical ambitions are characterized in terms of protagorean objectivity, which refers to the claim that political principles are dependent on us by their very nature and yet are fully objective. Critics argue that political constructivism is vulnerable to a Euthyphro-type dilemma whenever it pursues this ambition. The chapter explains the Euthyphro-type dilemma in terms of four related challenges that critics have raised against constructivism.

4. Chapter 3. Two Rival Frameworks

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter describes two constructivist frameworks: a procedural and a constitutive framework. Procedural accounts are output models that vindicate political principles as the outcome of a deliberation procedure. Constitutive accounts identify the constitutive relationship between principles and practical deliberations aimed at some object as constructivism’s key feature. The chapter argues that both procedural and constitutive frameworks satisfactorily address the arbitrary charge associated with the first horn of the Euthyphro dilemma.

5. Chapter 4. The Elements of Construction

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter assesses whether different constructivist approaches are vulnerable to the charges of regress and circularity associated with the Euthyphro dilemma. The chapter argues that leading procedural accounts are vulnerable to these charges. It also argues that one constitutive account—a practice-based account—is vulnerable to these charges. The chapter concludes by defending a problem-based constructivist approach from both the regress and circularity charges.

6. Chapter 5. The Structure of Substantive Justification

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter extends developments in social ontology to a problem-based account of constitutive constructivism. It characterizes public-interest problems as ontologically subjective objects about which we can make epistemically objective claims. It argues that the ontological structure of public-interest problems defines a principle’s scope of operation and furnishes the materials for constructing a principle’s content and justification. The chapter explains how the ontological structure of public-interest problems supports substantive justification and protagorean objectivity.

7. Chapter 6. Methodological Principles of Constructivism

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter explains four methodological principles implied by a problem-based approach to constructivism. First, the approach implies a principle of disunity where normative political analysis attends to issues emerging from distinct domains of interaction. Second, it implies a teleological justification whereby substantive political principles are justified as instruments for achieving certain ends. Third, it implies a principle of doctrinal bracketing whereby substantive justification brackets speculative metaphysical and epistemological claims. Fourth, it implies principled viability—the idea that substantive political principles are viable when they serve as standards that people can meet, standards that are demanded of them, and standards that guide their actions.

8. Chapter 7. Normative Political Analysis

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter completes the defense of constructivism. It explains why a problem-based approach to constructivism is not subject to the final criticism associated with the Euthyphro dilemma. The chapter argues that although the normative force of basic principles supports the normative purchase of substantive political principles, and although the normative purchase of substantive political principles grounds the normative authority of political institutions, it does not follow that basic principles ground the normative authority of political institutions. A constructed set of substantive political principles must serve as fundamental political principles for determining the normative authority of political institutions and their assigned powers.

9. Chapter 8. The Promise of Constructivism in Politics

   Michael Buckley

   Abstract

   This chapter explores the promise of constructivism as a method of normative political analysis for a pluralistic world in which pressing political challenges routinely outstrip the decision-making capacities of any one country. It examines the promise of constructivism in several contexts, including cases where countries transition toward or away from democratic arrangements, those in East Asia that focus on the concept of performance legitimacy, and instances of social challenges that spill across local, national, and regional boundaries. In each case, the promise of constructivism in politics is explained in terms of a distinct field of normative political analysis.

10. Backmatter