Ideal or not ideal? That is the question. Meta-theory in democratic thought.

Abstract

This thesis aims to show that the debate of ideal and non-ideal theory used in justice theory can not only be applied to democratic theory – it is beneficial as well. Through an extensive framework, the theory is applied to the debate, to show that it fits, and later the debate is applied to the theory, to show the benefits it gives in terms of pointing out flaws in theory as well as pointing out room for improvement. The results from the thesis show that democratic theories can be criticized and improved with the help of the ideal and non-ideal theory debate but it also argues that it will help with the development of future theories.