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Democracy and Equality

Yale Law School

If democracy is defined as the form of government dedicated to the realization of the values of selfdetermination, democracy bears a complex relationship to equality. Democracy requires equality of democratic agency, which is different from the forms of equality that flow from the values of distributive justice or fairness. Indeed, insofar as the forms of equality demanded by distributive justice are defined by reference to philosophic reason, rather than by reference to democratic self-determination, there is an intrinsic tension between democracy and distributive justice. This tension is reflected in the common conflict between rights and legislative competence. But insofar as violations of the equality required by distributive justice impair democratic legitimacy, democracy requires that these violations be rectified. Changing conceptions of distributive justice may thus fundamentally alter the preconditions of democratic legitimacy.

Key Words: democracy • equality • collective decision making • freedom of expression • autonomy • public discourse • justice • legitimacy

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 603, No. 1, 24-36 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0002716205282954


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