Recent challenges to liberal democracies, among them polarization on issues like migration or the rise of populism, gave rise to a renewed interest in the normative analysis of disagreement. Whereas until recently most normative political theory aimed at determining a possible consensus on principles of justice, new perspectives take persistent disagreement as an essential feature of political life. One of the essential concepts for the analysis of political disagreement is compromise. How should we conceptualize compromises? Is it possible to distinguish different kinds of compromises? What reasons do we (and especially citizens of liberal democracies) have for compromising? Are those reasons purely pragmatic or could they also be of a principled nature?
At the same time, pressuring international political issues like climate change mitigation, the situation of Afghanistan, or the unjust war in Ukraine, put democracies under hard tests that noisily call for compromising. Here, the morality of compromises becomes especially relevant. Do compromises always have to be fair to be justified? Are there compromises that are absolutely forbidden, or does politics admit of all possible agreements? Which criteria do we use for that judgement?
Those and more questions will be addressed throughout the semester. The seminar´s dynamics will be of active discussion and reflection. In order to have rich discussions, participants are expected to read the weekly texts beforehand.
Towards the end of the semester, we will have a workshop with an invited speaker. On that occasion, students will also be able to present their ideas and discuss them with their classmates.
Important: all sessions and texts will be offered only in English language.
For questions regarding the course organization, please contact Marco.TocheZevallos@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
- Kursleiter/in: Marco Antonio Toche Zevallos
- Kursleiter/in: Martina Tomczak