Abstract

The question seldom discussed among political philosophers is: How are liberal democracies maintained after they are established? In a liberal democratic state, the ultimate political values are: liberty, equality, political participation, tolerance, loyalty to the state, and its reproduction. This work is founded on the observation that ultimate political values cannot be based on purely rational considerations, prevailing tradition, or an overlapping consensus. I propose "veil politics" as a solution to the problem of establishing and maintaining those values. Veil politics recognizes and uses nonrational methods to fix and sustain those values. It is distinguished from "transparency politics" which exposes all states of affairs about the liberal society to all of its citizens, and from "opacity politics," which entirely hides states of affairs from its citizens. ;The inspiration for this dissertation derives from my background as a member of an African community where tradition and secrecy or aura play an integral and honorable role. In my community, aura is not used to hide information too awful to stand the light of the day, or to manipulate citizens for the interests of the Fon, the paramount chief. In my community it is understood that political arrangements should inspire citizens, since the arrangements are otherwise too ordinary to be inspiring. Embellishment excites the imagination of citizens and help to move them from the position of inertia to attitudes that motivate them to participate in the political processes. Finally, it helps align their fundamental desires with the core values of the community. ;Traditional liberal theorists start theorizing by assuming a consensus--choosing, as it were, with whom to coexist. I start by assuming a dissensus. We will always find ourselves alongside others with whom we have fundamental disagreements. I argue that it is not the business of liberal states to pick and choose with whom we ought to coexist.