This question identifies a widely underexplored issue whose theoretical salience shows how the understanding of what constitutes the primary question of political philosophy has a deep impact on how practical political questions are interpreted and addressed. What difference would it make, for example, whether the difficulties concerning the safeguard of human rights were couched in terms of the justice or of the legitimacy of the documents and treaties sanctioning their implementation. How should the issue of the quality of democracies be addressed whether one assigned priority to the justice or legitimacy of democratic institutions? Addressing these and other topical questions, the book offers a new theoretical angle from which to consider a number of pressing social and political issues.
This book was previously published as a special issue of the Critical Review of Social and Political Philosophy.
Emanuela Ceva is Assistant Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Pavia. She has published on themes of procedural justice, pluralism and respect for dissenting minorities and she is completing a monograph on value conflicts in politics.
Enzo Rossi
is Senior Research Fellow in Social Philosophy at the University of Wales, Newport. His published work focuses mainly on the theoretical foundations of liberal democracy, with particular attention to problems of legitimacy and realism. He is completing a book on the liberal political tradition.