politischnormativ

Politischnormativ (often written politisch-normativ) refers to the normative dimension of political analysis. It concerns judgments about what ought to happen in politics, rather than descriptions of what does happen. In practice, politischnormative assessments evaluate political institutions, policies, and practices against moral or political principles such as justice, equality, freedom, and rights.

The scope includes questions of legitimacy, constitutional design, governance, policy evaluation, and the ethical foundations of public decision-making. Normative assessments may address how electoral systems shape representation, how constitutional rights are protected, or how policies affect the well-being and dignity of citizens. The term is often used in political philosophy, constitutional theory, and policy analysis to foreground value-based reasoning alongside empirical considerations.

Politischnormativ is distinct from descriptive or empirical political science, but it frequently intersects with them. The normative part requires justification and argumentation, drawing on theories from liberalism, republicanism, communitarianism, or deliberative democracy, among others. In empirical work, normative analysis can guide research questions, interpret findings, or propose criteria for evaluating outcomes.

Critiques of politischnormativ approaches point to subjectivity and potential biases in choosing values or frameworks, as well as disagreements about which norms should prevail in contested political contexts. Nevertheless, normative evaluation remains central to debates about justice, legitimacy, and the aims of political institutions, informing both scholarly analysis and public discourse.