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The Criminal Is Political: Policing Politics in Real Existing Liberalism

Duff, Koshka

Authors

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KOSHKA DUFF Koshka.Duff@nottingham.ac.uk
Assistant Professor



Abstract

The familiar irony of ‘real existing socialism’ is that it never was. Socialist ideals were used to legitimize regimes that fell far short of realizing those ideals—indeed, that violently repressed anyone who tried to realize them. This paper suggests that the derogatory concept of ‘the criminal’ may be allowing liberal ideals to operate in contemporary political philosophy and real politics in a worryingly similar manner. By depoliticizing deep dissent from the prevailing order of property, this concept can obscure what I call the ‘legitimation gap’. This is the gulf between (a) liberal accounts of state legitimacy, and (b) the actual functioning of liberal states. Feminists have long pointed out that the exclusion of what is deemed ‘personal’ from political consideration is itself a political move. I propose that the construction of the criminal as a category opposed to the political works similarly to perpetuate unjust forms of social power.

Citation

Duff, K. (2017). The Criminal Is Political: Policing Politics in Real Existing Liberalism. Journal of the American Philosophical Association, 3(4), 485-502. https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.39

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Nov 16, 2017
Online Publication Date May 2, 2018
Publication Date 2017
Deposit Date Apr 3, 2020
Journal Journal of the American Philosophical Association
Print ISSN 2053-4477
Electronic ISSN 2053-4485
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 3
Issue 4
Pages 485-502
DOI https://doi.org/10.1017/apa.2017.39
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2594334
Publisher URL https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-american-philosophical-association/article/criminal-is-political-policing-politics-in-real-existing-liberalism/F756A16F63D970637E5435F98AE584BF
Additional Information License: Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2018