Three Faces of the Legitimacy Crisis of Liberal Democracy: Identity, Rationality and Universality
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THREE FACES OF THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY: IDENTITY, RATIONALITY AND UNIVERSALITY by SAVAŞ Ş. BARKÇİN Department of Political Science and Public Administration Bilkent University Ankara June 2001 THREE FACES OF THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY: IDENTITY, RATIONALITY AND UNIVERSALITY The Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University by SAVAŞ Ş. BARKÇİN In Partial Fulfillment Of The Requirements For The Degree Of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION in THE DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION BILKENT UNIVERSITY ANKARA June 2001 I certify that I have read this thesis and in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration. ............................................ Assoc. Prof. Dr. E. Fuat Keyman Supervisor I certify that I have read this thesis and in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration. ............................................ Assist. Prof. Dr. Aslı Çırakman Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration. ............................................ Dr. Simon Wigley Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration. ............................................ Assist. Prof. Dr. Scott Pegg Examining Committee Member I certify that I have read this thesis and in my opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and in quality, as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science and Public Administration. ............................................ Prof. Dr. Ali Yaşar Sarıbay Examining Committee Member Approval of the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences ............................................ Prof.Dr. Kürşat Aydoğan Director ii ABSTRACT THREE FACES OF THE LEGITIMACY CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY: IDENTITY, RATIONALITY AND UNIVERSALITY Savaş Ş. Barkçin Department of Political Science and Public Administration Supervisor: Associate Professor E. Fuat Keyman June 2001 The thesis investigates the question of legitimacy crisis of liberal democracy as manifested by the processes, debates, concepts, popular demands and emerging new identities and forms of politics along the globalization phenomenon. It argues that this crisis is situated in three principal sites of the liberal theoretical and normative conceptualization: identity, rationality and universality. Then a dialogical and thematic reading is carried out among various theoretical positions in order to find out whether the current legitimacy crisis is an ephemeral or conjunctural development or rather it is a crisis which is exacerbated by the basic assumptions, modalities and configurations provided by the liberal democratic discourse. These positions are classical liberalism, the Rawlsian perspective and the communitarians, Habermas and the theory of deliberative democracy, and finally radical democracy and agonistic democracy approach within it. All these theoretical positions are critically presented and evaluated on the basis of their capacity to offer alternatives for the legitimacy crisis and for the reconstruction of the democratic legitimacy. In the final chapter, general findings, problems and prospects are introduced and certain strategies and modalities of theorization for political science are suggested which would both strengthen democratic participation and reconstitute the democratic legitimacy based on the intrinsic relationship between politics and ethics which has been largely ignored in the liberal democratic thought. Keywords: Political Science, Political Theory, Liberal Democracy, Globalization iii ÖZET LİBERAL DEMOKRASİDEKİ MEŞRUİYET KRİZİNİN ÜÇ YÜZÜ: KİMLİK, USSALLIK VE EVRENSELLİK Savaş Ş. Barkçin Siyaset Bilimi ve Kamu Yönetimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç.Dr. E. Fuat Keyman Haziran 2001 Bu tez, küreselleşme olgusu ile beraber ortaya çıkan süreçler, kavramlar, tartışmalar, kavramlar, kamusal talepler, yeni kimlikler ve siyasa şekilleri ile belirginleşen liberal demokrasideki meşruiyet krizi sorununu irdelemektedir. Bu krizin liberal teorik ve normatif kavramsallaştırmadaki üç ana merkezde ortaya çıktığı vurgulanmaktadır: kimlik, ussallık ve evrensellik. Bunun ardından, mevcut meşruiyet krizinin geçici veya mevsimsel bir olgu olup olmadığını, ya da bu krizin liberal demokrasi söyleminde mündemiç temel varsayımlar, modaliteler ve kavramsal çerçevelere dayandığını belirlemek için, çeşitli siyasi konumlar arasında bir diyalojik ve tematik okuma yapılmaktadır. Bu siyasi konumlar klasik liberal, Rawls'un teorisi ve toplulukçular, Habermas ve diyalogcu demokrasi teorisi ve son olarak da radikal demokrasi ve onun içinde yer alan agonistik demokrasi yaklaşımlarıdır. Bütün bu teorik konumlar, liberal demokrasinin meşruiyet krizine ve demokratik meşruiyetin yeniden inşasına alternatif olma kabiliyetlerini ortaya koyacak şekilde eleştirel bir şekilde sunulmakta ve değerlendirilmektedir. Son bölümde, tezin tesbit ettiği genel bulgular, problemler ve ileriye yönelik açılımlar sıralanmakta, ayrıca siyaset düşüncesi çerçevesinde hem demokratik katılımı güçlendirecek, hem de liberal demokrasi düşüncesinde genellikle gözardı edilen siyasa ile etik arasındaki birbiriyle içiçe ilişkiye dayalı demokratik meşruiyetin yeniden kurulmasına yardımcı olacak çeşitli teorileştirme stratejileri ve modaliteleri sunulmaktadır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Siyaset Bilimi, Siyaset Teorisi, Liberal Demokrasi, Küreselleşme iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First of all, my gratitude goes to my supervisor, E. Fuat Keyman who has helped me both with his perspective on political theory as well as with his faith in my intellectual capacity and the originality of my academic venture. Any work of thought of the disciple is the child of the masters. So, I would like to acknowledge the intellectual contribution of the instructors at Bilkent University, Ankara, and in previous schools I attended including the Johns Hopkins University, SAIS, Washington, D.C., and the Bosphorus University, Istanbul. I would also like to thank my dear friend, Professor Anna Krajewska of the UCLA for her constant encouragement and support during my writing, her willingness to read and comment on the manuscript and for our enriching discussions on the subject. Professor Ahmet Davutoglu is another friend to whom I owe gratitude for his original, careful and constructive remarks on the draft of the thesis. Finally my special thanks go to my dear wife and my three children who, in their sheer existence, have been bestowing me with kindness, care, compassion, solidarity and tolerance during my studies, the qualities which could also be considered as the real destination of my thesis as well. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................iii ÖZET .......................................................................................................................iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... v TABLE OF CONTENTS ....................................................................................... vi CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................1 1.1 Globalization and the Ethical Concern ..........................................................1 1.2 Liberal Democracy Revisited: A Theoretical Overview ...............................4 1.3 An Overview of the Thesis ............................................................................7 CHAPTER II: GLOBALIZATION AND LEGITIMACY CRISIS OF LIBERAL DEMOCRACY ............................................................................12 2.1 Globalization and Change ............................................................................12 2.1.1 The Concept of Change ........................................................................13 2.1.2 Globalization as Change: Perspectives ................................................15 2.1.3 Globalization: An Assessment .............................................................25 2.2 Legitimacy Crisis of Liberal Nation State ...................................................28 2.2.1 Globalization and the Legitimacy Crisis of Liberal Nation State ........28 2.2.2 The Postmodern Stance and the Crisis of Liberal Ethics .....................36 2.3 Three Sites of the Legitimacy Crisis of Liberalism: Identity, Rationality and Universality ...........................................................................................40 2.3.1 The Crisis of Identity ............................................................................40 2.3.2 The Crisis of Rationality .......................................................................46 2.3.3 The Crisis of Universality .....................................................................51 2.4 The Search for A Solution ............................................................................52 CHAPTER III: THE NORMATIVE UNIVERSE OF LIBERALISM: BETWEEN PROMISE AND DISILLUSIONMENT