Decolonizing Deliberative Democracy: Perspectives from Below

Abstract

In this paper I provide a decolonial critique of received knowledge about deliberative democracy. Legacies of colonialism have generally been overlooked in theories of democracy. These omissions challenge several key assumptions of deliberative democracy. I argue that deliberative democracy does not travel well outside Western sites and its key assumptions begin to unravel in the 'developing' regions of the world. The context for a decolonial critique of deliberative democracy is the ongoing violent conflicts over resource extraction in the former colonies of Africa, Asia and Latin America. I argue that deliberative democracy cannot take into account the needs of marginalized stakeholders who are defending their lands and livelihoods. The paper contributes to the literature by (1) offering a critique of hegemonic models of democracy that cannot address issues of inequality and colonial difference and (2) offering possibilities to imagine counterhegemonic alternatives for a democratization of democracy from below.

Guest Editors’ Introduction: The Challenges and Prospects of Deliberative Democracy for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility

“…However, it is widely accepted that deliberation should have this function if it is conducted according to the standards of good deliberation (see Table 1). In the CSR literature, the emancipatory function is invoked by critics who contend that deliberative processes in business largely fail to give disadvantaged groups a meaningful voice (Banerjee, 2014(Banerjee, , 2022Dawkins, 2015). The dominance of powerful interests and the inability or unwillingness to accommodate fundamentally different worldviews (such as Indigenous perspectives on the role of nature) are among the essential shortcomings of many deliberative processes in which corporations are involved (Ehrnström-Fuentes, 2016).…”

Doing Democratic Theory Democratically

“…Current debates confront the colonial legacies of political thought in an attept to decolonize democratic theory (Banerjee, 2021; Singh, 2019). Rather than decolonizing existing theory, what is of interest to this paper is how the practice of theorizing can be decolonized.…”

Access Under Duress

“…1) What constitutes meaningful access, and for whom is access meaningful? Decolonial critiques of deliberative democracy draw out the difficulty marginalized groups face in defending life and liberty in the setting of rational debate [5]. When institutions produce motivated ignorance and dismiss calls for accountability, one form of action for communities is to respond with counter-storytelling.…”

“…Embedded in typical public engagement models is an embrace of deliberative democratic principles, upholding rational debate as the gold standard for decision-making with its emphasis on decorum, objective notions of evidence, and a proceduralist approach. Critics have argued that deliberative democracy enacts a form of "epistemic colonialism," where marginalized communities face heightened personal stakes for advocacy [5] and find it harder for their perspectives to gain purchase [12]. Scholars of Critical Race Theory (CRT), for example, have long questioned the strong focus on procedure in community engagement practices [66] and account for structural racism within policy-making [69].…”