Should critical public intellectuals defend liberal democratic institutions?

Abstract In today’s ‘crisis of democracy’, critical theorists defend democratic principles as public intellectuals. Yet, they remain hesitant to ‘conservatively’ defend liberal democratic institutions. This article contributes to a special issue on civil society defences of liberal democracy. It asks under what conditions critical theorists can justifiably intervene to defend existing institutions. The article first discusses arguments in critical theory which suggest that defences of democracy should be based on core democratic principles. It then turns to early critical theorists, demonstrating that their defence of existing institutions does not refer to such strong principles. Subsequently, the possibility of defending existing institutions without appeal to strong normative standards is discussed in dialogue with contemporary critical theory. Finally, the article suggests that critical theorists can defend existing institutions if they avoid strong normative claims and focus instead on institutional matters. Practically, they should forge civil society alliances to defend the potential for abolishment inherent in existing institutions.