DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY

Reflective Log (Drawn from Presentation) - Deliberative Democracy

Reflective Log (Drawn from Presentation) - Deliberative Democracy

The Argument

Deliberative democracy echoes the representative democracy. In the case of representative democracy, the democratic element is that not all citizens have the same chance to become representatives. In contrast, deliberative democracy aims to which every citizen is equally represented in decision-making. What, in a democracy, is put into question by theorists of deliberative democracy, through multiple criticisms that drive our existing democratic regimes, is another element of democracy: the majority principle as it stands directly opposite the equality of citizens as the decision process.

Relevant Debate in the Literature

If one excludes the critique of bureaucracy of criticism by supporters of deliberative democracy to our liberal democratic regimes, not because the bureaucracy is more than an element of corruption that occurs when the body does not take policy decision over its function, especially the left following four complaints linked together: these regimes decide by aggregating individual preferences and not through an argumentative debate that leads to a consensual conclusion; the mode of formation of decisions gives rise to the bargain, ie to negotiation between individual interests heterogeneous, and thus continue, and the simple commitment, unlike the agreement founded on reason; the preference aggregation, negotiation and compromise the block looking for a rational agreement; and also impede to take into account the views of minority (Guyot, 2011).

As noted frequently, deliberative democracy rests on a premise very demanding: it is possible to achieve a consensus among citizens on all important matters of public decision. The only realistic solution would ostensibly to consider this goal as a simple ideal - however unrealistic that goal is less than commonly thought (Herrmann, 2009). That said, I accept certain premises ambitious of representative democracy, but reject, on the other hand, that ...