L'inclusione dei vulnerabili. Vulnerabilità e democrazia

This article considers whether some well-known challenges to the All-affected principle can be responded to by appealing to the notion of ‘vulnerability’. Assuming that: i. ‘vulnerability’ is an exposure to the threat of harm, and ii. ‘security’ is the greater modally robust opportunity to avert avoidable threatened harms, an All-Vulnerable principle is defended. This principle states that, under the assumption that democratic policies are uniquely influenced by the demos, the demos should include anyone vulnerable to threatened harms arising from democratic decisions. The principle rests on a non-contingent instrumental relation between security and democratic participation. Still, vulnerability is not the fundamental ground of this principle, but it is rather a way to ground it on interests’ protection, utility, autonomy, relational equality, and fairness.