Militant Democracy and Its Critics

Should representative governments restrict the democratic rights of their extremist opponents? The first edited collection to boast an international group of political scientists, legal scholars and philosophers debating the urgent question of how to combat anti-democratic extremism. Asks whether it is permissible for representative governments to restrict the democratic rights of their extremist opponents. Argues both for and against militant democracy – policies that pre-emptively restrict the rights of antidemocratic movements. Militant Democracy refers to the defensive policies democracies use to respond to antidemocratic movements. Can defensive efforts that curtail rights of participation be consistent with democratic values? In this collection of essays, scholars from across politics, philosophy and law address the unresolved practical and theoretical questions concerning democracy and extremism. The collection provides an update to a key contemporary debate in democratic theory and asks us to reconsider the potential promise and costs of militant democracy.