Christian Hiebaum

Spheres of Global Justice

This book illustrates the specificities and interconnections of major spheres of global justice. It analyzes the diverse kinds of global ethical obligations in relation to the diversity of global causal relationships. It presents a multidisciplinary spectrum by leading scholars that combines empirical analysis with theoretical approaches.

Demarchy: A Dubious Conception of Global Democracy

Globalization and intensified international cooperation have led to a significant transfer of power from democratic assemblies to governments, bureaucracies, and anonymous, or at least non-transparent, networks of agents largely free of political accountability. But how can democratic decision-making be established in a largely de-nationalized world? In this paper, I shall focus on John Burnheim’s conception of global “demarchy.” Since it is a thoroughly anti-statist conception flirting with certain anarchistic ideas, demarchy seems to be a fresh and interesting alternative. It suggests a variety of overlapping functional communities, communities of people who are confronted with one and the same social problem and therefore have a legitimate material interest in decisions of an authority that has the power to deal with the particular problem. Furthermore, in demarchy, decision-makers are not being elected but assigned by lot. Not many will find this conception feasible and attractive. However, a critical analysis of the shortcomings of “demarchy” can provide us with a clearer picture of today’s problems.

Migration and the Division of Moral Labor

Many liberals take it for granted that reasoning about immigration should proceed from the assumption of a basic human right to free movement within and across state borders that outweighs most of the standard considerations against policies of open borders. Against this, communitarians typically argue that there is no freedom that does not arise out of constraints imposed by the norms of a particular community. Nowadays, the philosophical front between liberals and communitarians is not so clear anymore. On the liberal side, the line has been blurred by the idea of a division of moral labor, which is said to better fit our moral intuitions about special duties towards our fellow countrymen without degenerating into particularism. In this paper, I want to explore the remaining differences between such a liberal account and the communitarian approach with regard to the issue of migration, and defend the liberal approach against some communitarian concerns.

Die Politik des Rechts : eine Analyse juristischer Rationalität

Christian Hiebaum examines the political dimension of legal argumentation. He shows how two prevalent beliefs which seem to contradict one another are, in fact, compatible: the belief that the application of law is a political undertaking, and the belief that those who apply law necessarily act in a truth-oriented manner. This demands a thorough analysis of the interpretation of legal standards on the one hand, and of the concept of common welfare and its role in legal discourse on the other. Overall, the analysis is set up as a deconstruction of the Dworkinist differentiation of principle and policy arguments.