Temporal Justice, Youth Quotas and Libertarianism

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Marcel Wissenburg

Abstract

Quotas, including youth quotas for representative institutions, are usually evaluated from within the social justice discourse. That discourse relies on several questionable assumptions, seven of which I critically address and radically revise in this contribution from a libertarian perspective. Temporal justice then takes on an entirely different form. It becomes a theory in which responsibilities are clear and cannot be shifted onto the shoulders of the weak and innocent. I shall only briefly sketch some outlines and general implications of such a theory, arguing that it offers too little guidance for our imperfect world. While that implies more tolerance for quotas, I nevertheless propose an alternative more suited to a representative, deliberative democracy: veto rights.

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Author Biography

Marcel Wissenburg, Radboud University Nijmegen

Marcel Wissenburg is Professor of Political Theory and Head of the Department of Public Administration and Political Science at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. His research interests cover classical themes such as social justice, liberalism and libertarianism, but, more particularly, “green” political thought, reinventing the position of animals, nature and environment relative to humans.