Politik und Verantwortung

The aim of this special edition of PVS is to reflect on the recent boom in the concept of responsibility, to analyse the relevance of this concept and to identify and explain the transformation of the concept of responsibility in the face of social and technological changes. One of the most important criteria when evaluating political decisions is how responsible they are. The concept of responsibility relates to a framework of normative expectations, whose legal and moral characteristics vary depending on each policy area. Above all, responsibility means making political actors accountable for the consequences of their actions. A fundamental problem in current conceptions of responsibility relates to its diffusion. On the one hand, there is an increasing number of actors involved in an increasing number of political activities, but at the same time increasingly fewer of them are solely responsible for the consequences of their actions. The contributions in this special issue of PVS discuss both the theoretical and, by examining various policy areas in local, national and international politics, empirical repercussions of this dilemma. This volume brings together experts from different disciplines, ranging from politics and law to sociology and philosophy.