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Schuessler, Rudolf ; Gillerke, Fritz:
Voice and No Votes for Future Citizens.
In: Ruiz Fabri, Hélène ; Rosoux, Valérie ; Donati, Alessandra
(Hrsg.):
Representing the Absent. -
Baden Baden
: Nomos
,
2023
. - S. 375-392
. - (Studies of the Max Planck Institute Luxembourg for International, European and Regulatory Procedural Law
; 27
)
ISBN 978-3-7489-1864-6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/9783748918646-375
Abstract
It is widely agreed that the presently living owe justice to future people. However, the question whether future people should in some way be represented in present decision processes or processes of deliberation about justice remains controversial. This paper discusses some conceptual distinctions which we believe help better to understand the complexity of the issue. The first distinction pertains to the question whom we owe representation in political processes and what rights different types of claimants should attain. We assume that both, the All Subjected Principle (ASP) and the All Affected Principle (AAP), which are prominent in the literature on political representation, have their justification, but correspond to different forms of representation. Both principles imply that at the basic level of consideration, individuals are to be represented. People who are subject to the laws of a state are entitled to a vote in the political process of the state. People who are not subject to the laws of a state but significantly harmed by its policies have a title to be at least heard in the process that leads to harmful external effects. In other words, all negatively affected persons have a title to voice, and we take vote and voice to be the two paradigmatic forms of participation to be considered also with respect to the representation of future people.
(In contrast to a fully universal formulation of the AAP, we do not assume that beneficial external effects entitle the affected to an influence on the effect generating process.)
At first glance, it seems to follow from our basic assumptions that the prospective descendants of persons who are subject to a state’s laws should be represented by presently living deputies with a vote in the state’s political decision making. The descendants can, after all, be expected to be subject to the state’s laws. However, this view runs into problems at closer inspection. Even if we bracket the problem of a state’s uncertain continuity, distant descendants (and distantly future citizens in general) have no stake in present lawgiving qua lawgiving. It is uncertain whether they will be subject to present laws since the laws may change in the future. Moreover, we do not demand an actual positive vote of presently living people or their representatives to laws which were established before their birth. It suffices for fair democratic representation if persons can vote to change established laws should they deem the laws ill-conceived or no longer functional. Future people, of course, also have this possibility of changing inherited laws when their time has come. Finally, what mainly matters for distant descendants are the effects which present political and legal decision making has on them. It follows that future descendants should at best be represented according to AAP and receive voice but not vote in present decision processes.
Since descendants are the future people prima facie most likely to have a title to vote qua ASP in present states, we conclude that future people in general should at best attain voice but not vote in present political and legal processes. Ways how this voice might be represented are broached at the end of the paper.
Weitere Angaben
| Publikationsform: | Aufsatz in einem Buch |
|---|---|
| Begutachteter Beitrag: | Ja |
| Institutionen der Universität: | Fakultäten > Kulturwissenschaftliche Fakultät > Institut für Philosophie > Lehrstuhl Philosophie II > Lehrstuhl Philosophie II - Univ.-Prof. Dr. Rudolf Schüßler |
| Titel an der UBT entstanden: | Ja |
| Themengebiete aus DDC: | 100 Philosophie und Psychologie > 100 Philosophie 300 Sozialwissenschaften > 320 Politikwissenschaft |
| Eingestellt am: | 23 Mai 2025 09:25 |
| Letzte Änderung: | 23 Mai 2025 09:25 |
| URI: | https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/93626 |