Abstract
Proponents of electoral quotas have a ‘dependent interpretation’ of democracy, i.e. they have formed an opinion on which decision-making rules are fair on the basis of their prior approval of the outcomes these rules are likely to generate. The article argues that this position causes an irresolvable problem for constitutional processes that seek to legitimately enact institutional change. While constitutional revision governed by formal equality allows the introduction of electoral quotas, this avenue is normatively untenable for proponents of affirmative action if they are consistent with their claim that formal equality reproduces biases and power asymmetries at all levels of decision-making. Their critique raises a fundamental challenge to the constitutional revision rule itself as equally unfair. Without consensus on the decision-making process by which new post-constitutional rules can be legitimately enacted, procedural fairness becomes an issue impossible to resolve at the stage of constitutional choice. This problem of legitimation affects all instances of constitutional choice in which there are opposing views not only about the desired outcome of the process but also about the decision-making rules that govern constitutional choice.
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Notes
See Schneider and Bos. for an extensive discussion (2014). They report that ‘…female politicians are defined more by their deficits than their strengths. In addition to failing to possess the strengths associated with being women (e.g., sensitive or compassionate), female politicians lack leadership, competence, and masculine traits in comparison to male politicians. They are, however, associated with several negative traits (e.g., uptight, dictatorial, ambitious), although not as highly as anticipated. In short, female politicians seem to be “losing” on male stereotypical qualities while also not having any advantage on qualities typical of women’, p. 260-261.
‘There are particular needs, interests, and concerns that arise from women's experience, and these will be inadequately addressed in a politics that is dominated by men. Equal rights to a vote have not proved strong enough to deal with this problem; there must be equality among those elected in office (Phillips, 1995, p. 66; 1998, p. 233)
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Aris Trantidis is a Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute.
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Trantidis, A. The problem of constitutional legitimation: what the debate on electoral quotas tells us about the legitimacy of decision-making rules in constitutional choice. Const Polit Econ 28, 195–208 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-016-9233-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10602-016-9233-7
Keywords
- Constitutional theory
- Constitutional choice
- Affirmative action
- Formal equality
- Substantive equality
- Electoral quotas
- Feminist theory
- Calculus of Consent