May political parties refuse to govern? On integrity, compromise and responsibility

Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 26 (7):1028-1047 (2023)
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Abstract

After the parliamentary elections in Germany in September 2017, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), The Greens (Bündnis90/Die Grünen) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) started to negotiate about forming a coalition government. But, surprising to many, the FDP decided to let these coalition talks collapse, and many commentators in Germany found it highly problematic for a political party to refuse to take responsibility in government. Interestingly, the question whether (or: when) democratic parties may legitimately refuse to govern has so far been neglected in political theory and political philosophy. The article develops a general answer by discussing several possible reasons for thinking that it is sometimes wrong to refuse to govern and thereby engages both democratic theory and the recent literature on compromise. The resulting view is that parties have an ‘integrity prerogative’ that allows them to refuse to govern, except when there is no reasonable and stable alternative government coalition available.

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Fabian Wendt
Virginia Tech

Citations of this work

Partisanship and Political Obligations.Fabian Wendt - 2021 - Philosophy and Public Issues - Filosofia E Questioni Pubbliche 11 (3):91-104.

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References found in this work

Against Democracy: New Preface.Jason Brennan - 2016 - Princeton: Princeton University Press.
The Concept of Representation.Hanna Fenichel Pitkin - 1967 - University of California Press.
On Legitimacy and Political Deliberation.Bernard Manin - 1987 - Political Theory 15 (3):338-368.
On the possibility of principled moral compromise.Daniel Weinstock - 2013 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 16 (4):537-556.
Democratic respect and compromise.Christian F. Rostbøll - 2017 - Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 20 (5):619-635.

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