Public Justifiability and Children

Author: Beckman, Ludvig¹

Source: The International Journal of Children's Rights, Volume 16, Number 1, 2008 , pp. 141-152(12)

Publisher: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, an imprint of Brill

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Abstract:

The idea that everyone should be able, at least in principle, to accept a society's basic political principles is a central element of the liberal idea of political legitimacy. In this article, the implications of this idea for the political status of children are examined and two arguments are made. The first is that our political institutions and principles should be able to meet with the approval of children in order for them to be justified in accordance with the liberal principle of political legitimacy. The second argument is that this would be best achieved by considering what principles we - the adults - could not reasonably reject were we to adopt the child's perspective.

Keywords: JUSTICE; PUBLIC JUSTIFIABILITY; CHILDREN; CONTRACTUALISM; REASONABLE; POLITICAL LEGITIMACY

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1163/092755608X278911

Affiliations: 1: Associate professor, Department of Political Science, Stockholm University