Democratic Dirty Hands

Zusammenfassung

There is widespread agreement that politics calls for dirty hands in general, and for secrecy and duplicity in particular. The claim is, of course, most famously made by Machiavelli in The Prince, but it is also to be found in Book 3 of Plato’s Republic. However, in arguing that politics calls for duplicity, neither Plato nor Machiavelli was writing about democratic societies, and we might therefore wonder whether, in democratic societies, the problem of dirty hands should be differently understood.

Over many years I have benefited enormously from academic discussion with Ruth Zimmerling. In particular, her views on the character of democracy have been exceptionally illuminating and thought-provoking. This paper is an attempt to explain why and how the problem of political dirty hands might be different depending on whether it arises in a democracy. I dedicate the paper to Ruth, with my thanks for her friendship, both personal and intellectual.