Social justice for freedom seekers – Sartori and the concept of equality

Abstract In Democratic Theory (1962), Sartori argued that the key challenge for liberal-democratic regimes is to reconcile liberty and equality. However, his focus was primarily on the concept of liberty. In the Theory of Democracy Revisited (1987a), he elaborated a richer conception of equality, taking into account the thriving Anglo-Saxon debate. Sartori made two main contributions to this debate. First, he provided a clear conceptual framework for identifying different types of equalities and the various criteria for egalitarian distributions. Second, he laid the groundwork for an empirical theory of equality politics in contemporary democracies, warning against their potential threats. He also proposed to address the risk by means of an “efficient system of reciprocal compensations among inequalities.” The paper reconstructs and discusses Sartori's arguments on these important topics.