above purported kinds of morally very urgent goods. In sum, and telegraphing a bit, I will argue that there is a human right to democracy because the institutional structure made up by the legal and conventional rights that constitute democracy are normally necessary and reliable in protecting the basic rights to personal integrity and so it is strongly morally justified. And I will argue that the international community is morally justified in respecting, protecting and promoting that institutional structure in political societies. To be clear, this account does not require the existence of states or international institutions recognizing the right in question. In the absence of an international institution or even of a functioning state, one may still say that the human right to x exists since one is saying that the construction of institutions that include a conventional right to x is strongly morally justified. And I think one may even say that the right is violated or infringed by those who block the construction of these institutions. In order to have a human right the morally justified institutions must specify legal or conventional rights that are to be protected. There may be morally justified international institutions that help avoid interstate wars, civil wars or the environment but this does not imply that there is a human right to avoidance of war or pollution. The institution that is morally justified must specify a right. The human right to democracy that I will argue for asserts that there is a strong moral justification for states to adopt or maintain the institutions of minimally egalitarian democracy and it is morally justified for the international community to respect, protect and promote the right of each person to participate in minimally egalitarian democratic decision-making concerning their society. By egalitarian I mean “minimally democracy”
above purported kinds of morally very urgent goods. In sum, and telegraphing a bit, I will argue that there is a human right to democracy because the institutional structure made up by the legal and conventional rights that constitute democracy are normally necessary and reliable in protecting the basic rights to personal integrity and so it is strongly morally justified. And I will argue that the international community is morally justified in respecting, protecting and promoting that institutional structure in political societies. To be clear, this account does not require the existence of states or international institutions recognizing the right in question. In the absence of an international institution or even of a functioning state, one may still say that the human right to x exists since one is saying that the construction of institutions that include a conventional right to x is strongly morally justified. And I think one may even say that the right is violated or infringed by those who block the construction of these institutions. In order to have a human right the morally justified institutions must specify legal or conventional rights that are to be protected. There may be morally justified international institutions that help avoid interstate wars, civil wars or the environment but this does not imply that there is a human right to avoidance of war or pollution. The institution that is morally justified must specify a right. The human right to democracy that I will argue for asserts that there is a strong moral justification for states to adopt or maintain the institutions of minimally egalitarian democracy and it is morally justified for the international community to respect, protect and promote the right of each person to participate in minimally egalitarian democratic decision-making concerning their society. By “minimally egalitarian democracy” I mean
Final%20version%20of%20An%20Instrumental%20Argument%20for%20a%20Human%20Right%20to%20Democracy.docx