What Dignity Demands: From Political to Poetical Liberalism

The thesis attempts to measure the disjoint between the promise of human dignity that appears at the heart of Western law (e.g. in national constitutions and international human rights instruments), and the experiences of exclusion and frustration that, in 2017, have seen many Westerners turn to anti-liberal, populist demagogues for relief. In measuring this disjoint, the thesis looks to the work of liberal and anti-liberal theorists alike, including John Rawls, Bruce Ackerman, Carl Schmitt and Jacques Derrida. It then uses the insights gained to construct a liberal theory that can overcome the key problems identified, before using this theory to critically engage with the constitutional jurisprudence of three very different states: Canada, South Africa and the United States.