ABSTRACT
In his contribution, Simon May argues that the ideal of political legitimacy helps makes sense of the idea that there are moral limits to compromise. The function of a conception of political legitimacy is to provide the basic elements of a moral framework for political decision making and to define the proper scope of negotiation within that framework. Throughout the chapter, May uses the example of racial equality as a component of a democratic conception of legitimacy. He distinguishes two conceptions of the claim that there can be no compromise on racial equality. The first (“core”) conception incorrectly prohibits compromises of core elements of racial equality in pre-democratic contexts, such as apartheid South Africa, even if these contribute to progress toward future racial equality. He defends the second (“lexical”) conception, which prohibits compromises of both core and peripheral elements of racial equality in a democratic context when these do not contribute to the fuller realization of political legitimacy.
