Author(s) :

Anvitha Karnati.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

This paper examines whether the legitimacy of democratic policy should not rest on citizens’ ability to publicly justify their post-deliberation positions to those who disagree. While deliberative theorists position justification as the foundation for legitimacy, this paper asserts that justification is neither feasible nor desirable as the base. Using conceptual analysis, I examine the requirements of reciprocity, mutual respect, and publicity in democratic theory and demonstrate how justificatory frameworks systematically exclude certain voices and produce exclusion. The result of this analysis is that fairness, rather than consensus-based justification, should serve as the foundation for democratic legitimacy. This paper concludes with the argument that structuring deliberative democracy around fairness better secures legitimacy in pluralistic democracies by preserving mutual respect without enforcing consensus.