WHAT KEEPS LIBERAL DEMOCRACY TOGETHER?

Nekoliko godina nakon sloma komunističkih sustava pokazuje se da je uvjerenje o ultimativnom trijumfu liberalne demokracije bilo preuranjeno. Otrežnjenje nije samo posljedica poteškoća u transformaciji postkomunističkih društava, nego i intelektualne skepse glede normativnog potencijala liberalne demokracije u razvijenim zapadnim društvima. Problem se najopćenitije može formulirati kao nesposobnost liberalne demokracije da stvori i reproducira normativne pretpostavke vlastitog opstanka. Autor smatra da se rješenje ovoga paradoksa ipak može pronaći unutar institucionalnog okvira liberalne demokracije: ako su doista istrošene tradicijske moralne pretpostavke na kojima je liberalna demokracija počivala u prošlosti, a na vidiku nema ni civilnoreligijskog supstituta za tu tradiciju, onda je ona upućena na to da stvori vlastitu, modernu ili postmodernu, moralnost mehanizmima javnog diskursa i političkog sudjelovanja građana. Normativna dimenzija liberalizma ne smije se reducirati na teoriju privatnog vlasništva, tržišta i konkurencije, nego uz konstitucionalnu teoriju ljudskih prava i ograničene vladavine treba izgraditi i teoriju ravnopravne raspodjele dobara i šansi.A few years after the collapse of communist regimes, it is evident that the confidence about the ultimate triumph of liberal democracy was premature. This waking up to the reality is not only the consequence of the hardships in the transformation of post-communist societies, but of the intellectual scepticism regarding the normative potential of liberal democracy in the developed western societies. The problem might in most general terms be formulated as the incapacity of liberal democracy to generate and reproduce the normative requirements for its own survival. The author thinks that the solution to this paradox can nevertheless be found within the institutional framework of liberal democracy: if the traditional moral concepts on which liberal democracy was founded in the past are worn out indeed, and no civil-religious substitute for that tradition has emerged as yet, then its only possibility is to create its own, modern or postmodern, morality by means of the public discourse mechanism and the political participation of citizens. The normative dimension of liberalism must not be reduced to the theory of private ownership, market and competition, but be envisaged as a constitutional theory of human rights and restricted government and the egalitarian distribution of goods and opportunities