Foucault and Radical Deliberative Democracy

Bibliographic Data

ID6234747
AuthorsRyan Walter (0000-0003-1907-001X, Murdoch University, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume43
Issue3
Pages531-546
Publication date2008-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10361140802267290
OpenAlexW2005288929
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

Deliberative democracy is a flourishing variant of democratic theory. John Dryzek and Iris Young are two of its more radical exponents, and here I bring some Foucaultian complications to their work. The radicalness I highlight in both thinkers owes to their different but comparable commitments to equality between different voices in deliberation. Foucault's histories are all histories of expert knowledges and the objects they usher into the world. In this sense, expert knowledges present problems for deliberative democracy, not only because they carry greater status than other knowledges but also because they have ontological effects. As I illustrate with the example of economics, although the programs of Dryzek and Young can cope quite well with the first, the second is a more serious problem, although possibly a positive one

Deliberation · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Flourishing · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Psychology

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