Rethinking Democratic Deliberation

The Limits and Potential of Citizen Participation

Bibliographic Data

ID6355484
AuthorsShawn W Rosenberg, Shawn Rosenberg (0000-0002-1595-3926, University of California, Irvine, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume39
Issue3
Pages335-360
Publication date2007-07-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePolity (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0032-3497 • E-ISSN: 1744-1684
PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1057/palgrave.polity.2300073
OpenAlexW1985037997
LanguageEN
Citations received29
References cited18

At a time when the western democracies are plagued by increasing political alienation and social fragmentation, political theorists and practioners have embraced a more deliberative approach to democratic governance. The sense of this approach and the political practice it encourages depend on a number of key assumptions regarding the capacities and inclinations of individuals and how they will engage one another in a deliberative setting. Drawing on theory and research in social and developmental psychology, I argue that these assumptions are incorrect. The aim here is not to reject the deliberative view, but to reconstruct it. A more adequate view of cognition, emotion and communication, one that emphasizes the social dimension of individual capacities and orientations, is presented. This leads to a reconsideration of the democratic values of autonomy and equality, and how best to institutionalize deliberative practices

Alienation · Autonomy · Deliberation · Deliberative democracy · Democracy · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Critical Theory and Philosophy · Law · Psychology · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology

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