The Proper Scope of the All-Subjected Principle
| Published date | 01 May 2024 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231160513 |
| Author | Akira Inoue |
| Date | 01 May 2024 |
https://doi.org/10.1177/14789299231160513
Political Studies Review
2024, Vol. 22(2) 427 –435
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
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DOI: 10.1177/14789299231160513
journals.sagepub.com/home/psrev
The Proper Scope of the
All-Subjected Principle
Akira Inoue
Abstract
This article shows that the democratic borders argument is defensible, albeit not in the way
Arash Abizadeh proposes. The democratic borders argument depends on the All-Subjected
Principle, according to which the exercise of political power is justified only insofar as everyone
who is subjected to that power is guaranteed a right to vote. According to the so-called “scope
objection,” the scope of the All-Subjected Principle is too broad, however, and therefore, the
argument can be refuted by reductio ad absurdum. Here I argue that Abizadeh’s appeal to the
narrow-scope interpretation of jurisdictionally circumscribed legal requirements is not a plausible
way of defusing this reductio. Instead, I show that the democratic borders argument is successful
if the All-Subjected Principle consists of two individually sufficient conditions corresponding to
narrow-scope and qualified wide-scope interpretations.
Keywords
All-Subjected Principle, Arash Abizadeh, democratic borders argument, minimum autonomy,
scope objection
Accepted: 13 February 2023
Arash Abizadeh provides a powerful and careful contribution to the democratic borders
argument by narrowing the scope of the All-Subjected Principle (ASP) with respect to
domestic laws. According to ASP, on which the democratic borders argument depends,
the exercise of political power is justified only insofar as everyone who is subjected to
that power is guaranteed a right of political participation, or more specifically, a right to
vote in the process of legislation. The point of ASP is that because legal restrictions and
requirements are coercive, they require justification to all who are subjected to them.
Consequently, as Abizadeh (2008) argued, ASP requires that a state’s border control is
democratically determined jointly by its own citizens and foreigners.
Abizadeh’s argument has been challenged, however, because ASP implies that the
right to be involved in democratic decision-making is not just limited to border control
Department of Advanced Social and International Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University
of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Corresponding author:
Akira Inoue, Department of Advanced Social and International Studies, Graduate School of Arts and
Sciences, University of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8902, Japan.
Email: inoueakichan@g.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp
1160513PSW0010.1177/14789299231160513Political Studies ReviewInoue
research-article2023
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