Justificatory power
power in the space of reasons
The capacity to shape, occupy or foreclose the normative conditions under which reasons can be formed, offered and received as binding.
The space of reasons can be occupied before any exchange of claims begins
Those subject to a normative order must be capable of contesting its governing logic
Justificatory power is the form through which domination acquires its democratic significance
Where the space of reasons is foreclosed, domination becomes self-concealing
Democratic legitimacy requires co-authorship of the order that governs one's political agency
Domination
power over
The structural condition in which one agent possesses the capacity for arbitrary interference with another, regardless of whether that interference is exercised.
Domination need not be exercised to produce its effects: the structural capacity is sufficient
The chilling condition: rational agents adjust conduct in anticipation of possible interference
Domination compresses capacity without direct coercion: the structural condition narrows the possible
Non-domination as a political ideal requires the absence of arbitrary power, not merely its non-use
Where domination forecloses justification, it removes the means by which it could be named as domination
Capacity
power to
The positive ability to act, deliberate and form reasons: the material and social conditions under which agency becomes possible at all.
Where capacity is severely constrained, the domain of justificatory power is narrowed before it begins
Narrow social conditions shrink the range of justificatory claims that can coherently be made or sustained
High formal capacity can coexist with near-total foreclosure of justificatory power
Capacity degradation matters democratically because it narrows the domain in which justificatory agency can function
At its limit, capacity may be reduced to a single residual act: the minimum through which justificatory agency barely persists
Theoretical observation
Select features from any panel to begin exploring the triadic relationships.
Diagnostic condition
Independent conditionsNo structural relationship yet visible
Contestability conditionJustificatory claims are being constrained
Structural dominationCapacity for arbitrary interference is present
Democratic foreclosureJustification and domination are interlocking
Legitimacy deficitAll three dimensions are under pressure
Triadic collapseCo-constitutive breakdown across all dimensions
Justificatory power0 / 5
Domination0 / 5
Capacity0 / 5