Introduction: The Practice of Political Justification

Abstract

Political justifications are everywhere. They are most obvious in the places where people are employed to construct, challenge and analyse them: parliament, think-tanks, the news media and academia. But they are also a fundamental part of every person’s life, including people who proclaim their boredom with politics, and their lack of interest in how they are governed. It is not only people like civil disobedients, trade union and party activists, politicians and pundits who are involved in the exchange of reasons that constitutes political justification. Also involved is everyone who has ever voiced an opinion on whether Britain should adopt the Euro, the US Star Wars programme, the war in Afghanistan, the state of the National Health Service and the price of petrol. When people talk about political issues they do not simply state their preferences, as they would when talking about holiday destinations or menu choices. Rather, they attempt to convince and persuade one another, and most of the time they use reasons rather than violence: ‘Britain should reject the Euro because it will bring closer integration into Europe, which will threaten sovereignty and national identity’; ‘The Star Wars programme should be avoided because it will fuel another arms race’; ‘income tax should be increased to fund improvements in the NHS’; ‘the war in Afghanistan is illegal and immoral’; ‘government taxes on petrol for hauliers should be kept as they are because of the damage their vehicles cause to the environment’.