Rights, Democracy, and Illiberalism in Europe Center for War Studies Rights, Democracy, and Illiberalism in Europe Vincent Charles Keating 28 September 2018

Overview Why am I talking about this? Rights and the War on Terror 26 September 2018

Overview Why am I talking about this? Rights and the War on Terror Russian Illiberal Ideological Influence 26 September 2018

Overview Why am I talking about this? Rights and the War on Terror Russian Illiberal Ideological Influence Two former students who wrote masters theses on populism in Europe 26 September 2018

Central Question Why is it difficult to come to a conclusion over what to do about illiberal groups/movements within Europe? A question found on both sides of the political spectrum Right wing: Illiberal immigrant groups Left wing: Illiberal nationalist groups What holds them together is a fear over the potential deprivation of freedoms and rights, either to groups or the entire society At what point can liberal governments/societies be illiberal in their response to illiberal groups/movements? 26 September 2018

Central Question 26 September 2018

Central Question 26 September 2018

Liberalism and Liberty “[The law of nature] obliges everyone [...] being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions” - John Locke, Second Treatise of Government Basic idea of liberal liberty/freedom: People should be able to pursue their own good; So long as they do not harm other people 26 September 2018

Liberalism and Liberty First idea is quite popular – everyone likes the idea of pursuing their own version of the good Second idea is where all of the problems exist Citizens should be prohibited from harming others in the course of their perusal of their own good Directly feeds into the idea of when liberal governments/societies can be illiberal But there is no commonly accepted way of assessing the nature of the harm – why? 26 September 2018

Three Complications to the Harm Principle What is considered to be a harm of sufficient quality, that it requires some type of intervention? What is the trade-off between liberty and harm that might lead us to tolerate or not tolerate state/society interventions Is the harm from others actually a harm, that is, an unwanted intrusion into personal liberty to pursue ones own good, and how can we tell? 26 September 2018

What is the Nature of Harm? Harm from the state Protected by human rights legislation Focus on negative rights – prohibitions on certain state actions Harm from others Bodily harm – protected by legal prohibition Other harms? Many political debates are framed by a contestation over the nature and extent of harm Particularly if it results in a perceived reduction in rights/freedom 26 September 2018

Freedoms, Rights, and Harm When do actions become so harmful, that they should be result in either legal or social punishment? Yelling ‘fire’ falsely in a crowded theatre Shouting racist abuse at someone Supporting a far-right/left political party that has a xenophobic manifesto Expressing a political opinion that demeans women Cat-calling Telling someone that they’re an asshole Not buying your round when it’s time to buy your round 26 September 2018

Beer Break! 26 September 2018

Tolerance for Intervention What is the appropriate level of tolerance to illiberal behaviour/conduct? How immediately do we punish illiberal conduct? What effect might this have on deliberative democracy? Two potential ends of the spectrum Actual choice will be something in between Libertarian liberalism Maximum freedom Authoritarian liberalism Maximum harm prevention 26 September 2018

Libertarian Liberalism The state never interferes with breaches of liberal values Stresses freedom of action so long as it does not directly result in direct bodily harm Sole exception: threat to the liberal state itself Must accept that other harms will occur Deliberative democracy: Minimizes exclusion of ideas/beliefs/groups Center for War Studies 26 September 2018

Authoritarian Liberalism The state interferes in any perceived breach of liberal values Position stresses harm done by illiberal conduct over loss of freedom Heavily politicizes accepted values Control over the state -> control over social behaviour Deliberative democracy: Maximizes exclusion of ideas/beliefs/groups Center for War Studies 26 September 2018

Social Structure/Environment Structure and Agency All humans have agency: we can independently decide what we want to do This is why we can have ethical judgements about our behaviour Humans are shape, and are shaped by, their social environment This is rarely absolute in either direction Two potential sources of illiberalism Illiberal structures/environments Supporting illiberal structures Social Structure/Environment Human Agency 26 September 2018

Structure and Agency in Liberal Politics Many political debates are highly structured by ideas of which level should be prioritized Inequality (right – agency; left – structure) Gay rights (right – agency; left – structure) Immigrant cultural practices (left – agency; right – structure) #metoo – male behaviour (left – agency/structure; right – structure) The problem for policy makers is that the answer is often both, and it is difficult to tell exactly to what degree 26 September 2018

Population Heterogeneity in the Effects of Structure Structural forces play into different individuals in different ways Why do individuals in groups participate in illiberal practices that (seemingly) harm them? Forced upon them by culture/family (structure) Free expression of culture/rebellion (agency) Both factors can exist in a population at the same time at different levels across different people, so what is the best policy? 26 September 2018

Why Other Harms are Harmful Non-bodily harm is seen as harmful because of the agency-structure system Social structures can lead human agents to engage in harmful behaviour to others (racism, sexism, etc.) Agency that reproduces these ideas, while not directly harmful, reproduces the harmful environment Social Structure/Environment Human Agency 26 September 2018

Why’d You Have to Go and Make Things So Complicated? There are several simultaneous decisions that need to be made with respect to what we should do about illiberal behaviour: What constitutes a harm that is of a sufficient quality to take political action? What is the general degree of acceptance for the trade-offs between liberty and harm? To what degree is the harm actually a harm, that is, an unwanted intrusion into personal agency, as opposed to a freely chosen behaviour? 26 September 2018

Why does this matter? Maintaining deliberative democracy in a twitterstorm world Political disagreements can arise not because the other side is dumb/ethically compromised, but because the underlying problems are very complicated Small changes in initial assumptions lead to large changes in policy suggestions There are potentially unavoidable ethical trade-offs to consider More direct action against harms could lead to greater politicization of political power and the alienation of groups finding themselves on the outside 26 September 2018