All the lessons will be held in English, they will be frontal, with the use of power point slides. At the end of each lesson an outline summarizing the major concepts and issues covered in class will be distributed. Students will be also provided by the teacher with excerpts from Kelsen’ and Schumpter’s main works (listed below in the bibliography), which will be discussed in class, as an opportunity to stimulate class discussion.
1st day:
Hans Kelsen legal theorist and political thinker (I): democracy, pluralism and constitutional jurisdiction in his European writings (1920-1932) – democracy and relativism in front of totalitarianism (1932-1940). The following issues will be addressed: A) Kelsen’s critique of Roussovian idea of direct democracy and common good; B) parliamentarism as the specific instrument to make political decisions; C) the proportional voting system as a condition to grant the respect of the minority; D) freedom and social peace as components of democracy; E) constitutional jurisditiction as the proper instrument to protect democracy against the “tyranny of the majority”; D) relativism as the philosophical vision of democracy. The course will highlight how all these aspects – representing for Kelsen the essence of democracy – presuppose the concept of pluralism (political, ideal, social) and that of freedom (civil and political).
2nd day:
Hans Kelsen legal theorist and political thinker (II) democracy and proceduralism in Kelsen’s political work: from the European writings to the American ones (1940-1955). More precisely, the first part of this lesson will be focused on the reasons why Kelsen’s democratic theory is proceduralist and in what sense his proceduralism is functional to his liberal and pluralist view of representative democracy against the attempts to justify democracy on the basis of alleged “absolute” principles, values (chiefly of religious connotation) and common good. In the second part of the lesson, the focus of the course will move from Kelsen to Schumpeter: Schumpeter economist and political thinker (I). The course will analyze the main components of Schumpeter’s economic theory during the European period and how his moving to the U.S. in 1932 impacted his intellectual interest for democratic and political theory – a focus on his major work on Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. The course will discuss Schumpeter’s view of capitalism and socialism as a basic presupposition to the understanding of his democratic theory.
After that, Schumpeter’s critique of classical (Roussovian) conception of common good as functional to delineating a proceduralist theory of democracy will be discussed.
3rd day:
Schumpeter economist and political thinker (II): democracy and ruling class selection – the race for leadership and its major mechanisms. In the first part of this lesson, the attention will be centred on the nature of democratic leadership as one of the leading aspects of Schumpeter’s work. In particular, such issue will be considered in the light of Schumpeter’s concern about how to restrain the pace of democratic change through the élites. In the second part of the lesson (Kelsen and Schumpeter: the path towards proceduralist democracy I) Kelsen’ and Schumpeter’s democratic theory will be put in direct comparison. The main conceptual similarities between their political theories will be thus identified: the critique of the common good – presupposing a similar critical approach to Rousseau’s political philosophy – and the concept of democracy as a method to make political decisions and select the ruling class.
4th day:
(Kelsen and Schumpeter: the path towards proceduralist democracy II) The last day of the course will take into account the major differences between Kelsen’ and Schumpeter’s democratic theories. Starting from the assumption that both thinkers shared a basically proceduralist conception of democracy, the course will discuss the main elements of divergence between the two, concerning mainly the political implications of leaders’ selection. Hence, the course will analyze how for Kelsen that selection was primary imagined within a broader view of democracy based on the principle of compromise and dialogue, whereas for Schumpeter within the race and fight among political forces. The course will argue how Schumpeter’s theory of leadership played a crucial role in making his work influential for several generations of political scientists. At the end of the lesson, the course will pose and investigate the question whether or not Kelsen’ and Schumpeter’s proceduralist conception of democracy.
Primary sources:
H. Kelsen, Vom Wesen und Wert der Demokratie (1929), in Ibid. hrsg. von M. Jestaedt und O. Lepsius, Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
(For the Portuguese edition: H. Kelsen, Essência e valor da democracia, in: A Democracia, Introdução de Giacomo Gavazzi, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1993).
H. Kelsen, Verteidigung der Demokratie (1932), in Ibid. hrsg. von M. Jestaedt und O. Lepsius, Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006. H. Kelsen, Foundations of Democracy (1955), in Ibid. hrsg. von M. Jestaedt und O. Lepsius, Tuebingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2006.
(For the Portuguese edition: H. Kelsen, Fundamentos da democracia, in A Democracia, Introdução de Giacomo Gavazzi, São Paulo: Martins Fontes, 1993).
J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy (1942), New York: Harper Perennial, 2008.
(For the Portuguese edition: J. A. Schumpeter, Capitalismo, Socialismo e democracia, São Paulo: Editora UNESP, 2017).
Secondary sources:
N. Bobbio, The Future of Democracy: A Defense of the Rules of the Game, Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1984.
N. Bobbio, Teoria generale della politica, a cura di M. Bovero, Torino, Einaudi, 2014.
S. Baume, Hans Kelsen and the Case for Democracy, Bruxelles, ECPR PRESS, 2012.
S. Ingham, Popular Rule in Schumpeter’s Democracy, “Political Studies”, 64 (4), 2016, 1071-1087.
A. S. Kirchner, Proceduralism and Popular Threats to Democracy, “Journal of Political Philosophy”, 18, 4, pp. 405-424.
E. Lagerspetz, Kelsen on Democracy and Majority Decision, “Archiv für Rechts und Sozialphilosophie”, 103, 2, 2017, 155-179.
S. Lagi, El pensamiento político de Hans Kelsen. Los origines de “De la Eséncia y valor de la democracia” (1911-1920), Madrid, Biblioteca Nueva, 2007.
G. Mackie, Schumpeter's Leadership Democracy, “Political Theory”, 37, 2009, 128-153.
G. Mackie, The Values of Democratic Proceduralism, “Irish Political Studies”, 4, 2011, 439-453.
J. Medearis, Joseph Schumpeter’s Two Thoeries of Democracy, Harvard: Harvard University Press, 2001.
M. P. Saffon-N. Urbinati, Procedural Democracy, the Bulwark of Equal Liberty, “Political Theory”, 4 (3), 2013, 441-481 A. Weale, Democracy, London: Macmillan, 1999.
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