Deliberative Democratic Theory and Empirical Political Science

Abstract

Although empirical studies of deliberative democracy have proliferated in the past decade [90's], too few have addressed the questions that are most significant in the normative theories. At the same time, many theorists have tended too easily to dismiss the empirical findings. More recently, some theorists and empiricists have been paying more attention to each other's work. Nevertheless, neither is likely to produce the more comprehensive understanding of deliberative democracy we need unless both develop a clearer conception of the elements of deliberation, the conflicts among those elements, and the structural relationships in deliberative systems.

Policy forums: Why do they exist and what are they used for?

“…The presence of a facilitating leader simplifies the collaborative process (Vasseur et al 1997;Folke et al 2005;Ansell and Gash 2008), not least because a leader might absorb transaction costs by providing critical resources (Emerson et al 2012). For instance, the role of state actors is key to facilitating and organizing corporatist negotiations between labor and business (Thompson 2008;Woldendorp and Keman 2010). A public manager can create opportunities for participation, provide information, facilitate deliberation (Feldman and Khademian 2007), or speed up consensus formation (Vasseur et al 1997).…”

“…Transparency is often assumed to be a key characteristic for successful collaborative governance in forums (Leach et al 2002;Ansell and Gash 2008), and is one of the most prominent conditions with respect to the quality of deliberation (Rowe and Frewer 2000;Thompson 2008;Bächtiger and Hangartner 2010).…”

“…This increases the credibility and legitimacy of the forum and its outcomes (Hendriks 2006). Further, speakers under public observation are more likely to treat their opponents in a respectful way and take their arguments seriously (Thompson 2008).…”

“…When deliberating and negotiating behind closed doors without public scrutiny, actors are under less pressure to follow their constituents' demands and cannot lose their face if they have to change their positions or admit the complexity of the problem (Thompson 2008;Bächtiger and Hangartner 2010). Advisory committees, for example, are rather working behind closed doors (Leach et al 2002).…”

On Partisan Political Justification

“…Authors have emphasized the relevance for justification of various democratic fora -deliberative polls, citizen juries, discursive chambers, and minipublics -where citizens critically assess issues of common concern (Chambers 2003) (Thompson 2008). Here we shall take a different path, examining the contribution to political justification of a different mode of civic engagement, one widely familiar from day-to-day politics yet often the target of scepticism and distrust.…”