Civil society and constitutional democracy in the political liberalism of John Rawls

Članak obrazlaže potrebu eksplicitnoga uključivanja civilnoga društva u Rawlsov sustav političkog liberalizma. Članak identificira tri problema u Rawlsovu sustavu i tada kroz definicije civilnoga društva Keanea, Taylora, Gellnera i Rosenblum izlaže mogućnosti njihova rješavanja. Prvi je problem onaj stabilnosti demokratskih sustava, koji je Rawls riješio uvođenjem preklapajućeg konsenszusa. Rawls, ipak nije dostatno objasnio dinamiku interakcije između razložnih doktrina, čime je ostavio prostor za gubitak potpore trenutnoj političkoj koncepciji pravde u slučajevima u kojima politički predstavnici previše često ignoriraju stavove razložnih doktrina. Drugi je problem onaj nerazložnih doktrina: Rawls planira da ih se riješi uobičajenim pravnim mehanizmima, ali ne elaborira kako se mogu nadzirati njihove aktivnosti. Posljednji je problem onaj stvaranja i mijenjanja javnoga uma, u kojem Rawls ne daje dostatne načine na koji javnost može utjecati na odluke zakonodavaca, sudstva i državnih dužnosnika. Esej identificira elemente definicija civilnoga društva koji rješavaju ova tri problema i zaključuje da bi Rawlsov sustav bio ojačan uključivanjem civilnoga društva.The essay argues for explicit inclusion of civil society into Rawlsʼs system of political liberalism. It identifies three problems in Rawlsʼs system and then using the definitions of civil society by Keane, Taylor, Gellner and Rosenblum presents the opportunities for their solution. The first problem is the one of stability of democratic systems, which Rawls solved by introducing overlapping consensus. The essay argues that Rawls does not sufficiently account for the dynamics of the interaction between reasonable doctrines, which can conceivably result in the withdrawal of support for the current political conception of justice if the citizensʼ representatives too often ignore the views of too many reasonable doctrines. The second problem is the one of unreasonable doctrines: Rawls plans that they be kept under check by legal mechanisms, but does not elaborate on how their activities can be supervised. The final problem is the one of the (re)creation of public reason, in which Rawls offers insufficient means through which the public can influence the actions of law-makers, the judiciary and state officials. The essay identifies the elements of the definitions of civil society that address the three problems and concludes that Rawlsʼs system would be made stronger by the introduction of civil society