Monday, January 11, 2010

Recent blog article on Deliberative Democracy in Undersanding Society Blog

In a recent blog, Daniel Little wrote on the central normative ideas and also on different modes of application of deliberative democracy.

On the normative aspects, he wrote

"The deliberative approach (...) looks at belief formation as itself a cumulative and reasonable process; one in which the individual needs to have the opportunity to think through the facts and values that surround the choice; and, crucially, one in which exposure to other people's reasoning is an important part of arriving at a sound conclusion.

Notice how different this process is by comparison with the talk radio paradigm -- short blasts of opinion by people whose opinions are already fully cast in concrete; no opportunity for 'listening for learning' among the participants; no willingness to keep an open mind in consideration of a factually and morally complex issue.
"

On the applications, he references Professor Jim Fiskin's deliberative poll methodology.

Check out the post yourselves. It is a very edifying read.

http://understandingsociety.blogspot.com/2009/07/how-good-is-deliberative-democracy.html