Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative GovernanceDeliberative democracy now dominates the theory, reform, and study of democracy. Working at its cutting edges, Foundations and Frontiers of Deliberative Governance reaches from conceptual underpinnings to the key challenges faced in applications to ever-increasing ranges of problems and issues. Following a survey of the life and times of deliberative democracy, the turns it has taken, and the logic of deliberative systems, contentious foundational issues receive attention. How can deliberative legitimacy be achieved in large-scale societies where face-to-face deliberation is implausible? What can and should representation mean in such systems? What kinds of communication should be valued, and why? How can competing appeals of pluralism and consensus in democratic politics be reconciled? New concepts are developed along the way: discursive legitimacy, discursive representation, systemic tests for rhetoric in democratic communication, and several forms of meta-consensus. Particular forums (be they legislative assemblies or designed mini-publics) have an important place in deliberative democracy, but more important are macro-level deliberative systems that encompass the engagement of discourses in the public sphere as well as formal and informal institutions of governance. Deliberative democracy can be applied fruitfully in areas previously off-limits to democratic theory: networked governance, the democratization of authoritarian states, and global democracy, as well as in new ways to invigorate citizen participation. In these areas and more, deliberative democracy out-performs its competitors. |
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accept activists actors agreement argument audience authoritarian authority bridging rhetoric challenge Chamber of Discourses chapter claims climate change collective choice collective decisions collective outcomes communication competing consensus conference constitutional contestation of discourses critical degree deliberation deliberative capacity deliberative democracy deliberative polls deliberative system demos developed DGCA discursive meta-consensus discursive psychology discursive representation discursive representatives Dryzek economic effective elections electoral empirical empowered space engagement of discourses environmental epistemic epistemic meta-consensus example feature formal global politics governance networks groups Habermas idea identity individuals institutions interests involve issue justice kind legitimate liberal democratic market liberalism means meta mini-publics networked governance normative meta-consensus organized overlapping consensus participants particular discourses partisans pluralism pluralists political system positions possible preference meta-consensus problem public reason public space public sphere Q methodology Rawls Rawlsian relevant discourses rhetoric social choice theory social movements society sort tion tive transnational values voting