Introduction to The Substance in Liberal Democracy

Daryl Glaser

Chapter 1 in The Substance in Liberal Democracy, 2026, pp 1-21 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: ‘For substantive democracy, against substantivism’ is a slogan that encapsulates this chapter and book. Liberal democracy is criticised by some for being merely formal and procedural. It is not, but some theories and practices of liberal democracy suffer from deficits in certain attractive substances, including substantive equality of political opportunity and substantive opportunities for popular participation and control. The baseline substance of liberal democracy, and of democracy itself, is ideologically open proceduralism, or free ideological choice exercised by political equals. The question then becomes whether democracy can be made more substantive in a manner consistent with ideological openness. With this yardstick to hand, the book examines proposals for rendering democracy more radically substantive: for realising substance in depiction and implementation of democracy, substantive political equality, substance in purpose and substance in process. Which of these ‘substantiations’ does democracy require? Which can it welcome or accommodate, and on what terms? Which must it resist? Substantivism, the book holds, substantiates democracy in the wrong way – in ways incompatible with ideological openness. The book's central concern is not whether democracy is good or just but whether it properly inscribes conceptions of goodness and justice in its institutional architecture or modes of operation. According to the moderately proceduralist account offered here, it cannot. Yet the temptation to conflate democracy with substantive ends – substantivism – is pervasive in political life and a potent threat to liberal democracy. Substantivism can be practised by enemies of liberal democracy, but also by liberals. The challenge for democratic reformers is to make liberal democracy more fully substantive without succumbing to substantivism. This book offers some guidelines for how to pull off this trick.

Keywords: Formal democracy; Procedural democracy; Substantive democracy; Liberal democracy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035333011
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