The British Academy Brian Barry prize essay: the ethics of political alliance

摘要

Usually pictured in relations of opposition, political parties are sometimes inclined to make alliance. The paper examines the ethical questions such arrangements give rise to. It considers first the formal characteristics of alliance as a distinctive form of association, moving on to examine what reasons for alliance are good reasons. Intrinsic arguments that invoke epistemic or democratic criteria, and instrumental arguments invoking areas ofudshared programme or imperfect institutions, are weighed in turn, with the latter judged to be more consistent with the partisan ethos. The final section examines the normative standards to which alliances should be held once formed.