Participatory Democracy and the Challenge of Dialogue across Difference

Bibliographic Data

ID20076522
AuthorsElisabeth Porter (0000-0001-7755-1204, corresponding author)
Year2000
Pages141-163
Publication date2000-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeCHAPTER
VenueGender, Democracy and Inclusion in Northern Ireland (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1057/9780333985397_7
OpenAlexW2500439814
ISBN9780333985397
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited24

Women are active in democratic, participatory practices in Northern Ireland, as the case-studies outlined in the previous chapters testify. In this chapter, I explore what the diverse case-studies add to understandings of democratic processes. What hope do the studies present for a future of equal participation between diverse perspectives? To answer this question, I examine three major issues: public participation and pluralism, creating a dialogue across difference, and deliberative democracy and difference. Particularly with the first two issues, I build on the arguments outlined in Part I of this book to assess the implications of the case-studies for a feminist critique of gender, democracy and inclusion in Northern Ireland. I also draw extensively on feminist theorists to argue that what is often missing in political debate is a preparedness to change, a recognition of the partial and situated character of knowledge and identities, and an excitement about the possibilities that participatory dialogue can engender. The third section looks beyond the case-studies toward the emancipatory potential of deliberative democracy to foster dialogue across difference. As an Australian, living in Belfast, my interpretations are those of an insider-outsider

Citizen journalism · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Epistemology · Insider · Political science · Politics · Situated · Sociology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Gender Politics and Representation · Gender Studies · Irish and British Studies · Law

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