Must Justification Always Be Open and Inclusive?

Abstract Forst’s right to justification is a powerhouse of inclusion and openness. It demands that the doors of power be opened to all affected on equal and reciprocal terms. No person is to be denied a voice on matters that bear on them. And yet much of the power exercised in contemporary liberal democracies is closed to direct popular control (e.g., constitutional conventions, courts, executive committees, commissions, legislative bodies, juries, etc.). Can such exclusions be justified using the Forstian framework? If they cannot, should we conclude that they are illegitimate or that the Forstian framework needs reform? The argument proceeds via a contrast between the right to justification and Pettit’s account of non-domination and focuses on Forst’s spectacular recent book, The Noumenal Republic .