The Ethics of Activism

All are invited to this evening salon with Emilee Chapman (Stanford, Political Science) about the ethics of activism: when and why is it acceptable in a liberal democracy to engage in forms of activism that involve disruptive violations of legal and social norms?

Abstract

Throughout January of 1919 suffragists demonstrating in front of the White House maintained a “watch fire of freedom” by burning copies of President Wilson’s speeches. In 2022, opponents of Canada’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates, calling themselves the Freedom Convoy, used heavy trucks and other vehicles to blockade major bridges and border crossings. Animal rights activists stage “open rescues” to liberate animals from labs and factory farms. Labor activists picket employers. Pro-life activists picket abortion clinics. Climate activists splash soup on famous paintings. Indigenous groups stage “fish-ins” and “duck-ins” to assert their traditional hunting and fishing rights. Critics of capitalism and globalization occupy parks. Student activists heckle invited speakers and occupy administration buildings.

Overtly political, disruptive, and performative violations of legal and social norms are a fixture of social movement activism in modern liberal democracies. Yet they present a dilemma for those committed to liberal democracy.  On one hand, liberal democracy places a heavy emphasis on the role of procedures, institutions, and social norms that guide participation and constrain contestation in accordance with democratic values and individual rights. On the other hand, norms and institutions are often deeply flawed, and even good ones can become dysfunctional or maladaptive over time. Few would deny that disruptive activism is sometimes necessary both to fight injustice and to drive political innovation. In this talk, I will explain why familiar attempts to resolve this dilemma have proven inadequate. I will also suggest a new framework for activist ethics that is grounded in an understanding of the practical problems of social and political ethics that liberal democratic norms and institutions exist to solve.

Dinner will be provided for all attendees.

About the speaker

Emilee Chapman is Associate Professor of Political Science at Stanford. Her primary research and teaching interests are in democratic theory and political ethics.