In this lucid work, Elena Namli makes a powerful case for a new critical legal positivism. Through generous and incisive readings of Hart, Raz, and Habermas, she argues for a dialectical understanding of the complex relations among law, politics, and morality which-coupled with a materialist sensitivity to concrete injustices-can produce a grounded, bottom-up critique of contemporary liberal democracy.

Michael Goodhart, Michael Goodhart, University of Pittsburgh

In Legal Positivism, Politics, and Critical Ethics, Elena Namli breathes new life into well-worn debates about law, ethics, and democracy. Proceeding through appreciative but sharp critiques of H.L.A. Hart, Joseph Raz, and Jurgen Habermas, Namli defends a genuinely critical form of legal positivism consistent with the normative universalism at the heart of modern democracy. Beautifully written and cogently argued, the book represents a major contribution to political theory.

Jeffrey C. Isaac, Jeffrey C. Isaac, James H. Rudy Professor of Political Science, Indiana University Bloomington

Elena Namli offers here a profound defense and reconstruction of legal positivism. According to Namli, the best version of positivism should not endorse a strict separation between law on one side, and morality and politics on the other. Rather, there is no way to understand the validity of particular laws, and law's nature as a social practice, without understanding them as worked out in the shadow of both politics-and, in democracy, the citizens who author the law-and morality. Namli works out her theory in dialogue with three theorists of the law-Hart, Raz, and Habermas-while showing the limits of each one. This will be essential reading for anyone interested in the relation between law, morality, and politics.

Andrea Sangiovanni, Andrea Sangiovanni, King's College London