New Developments in Deliberative Democracy
| Author | Ricardo Blaug |
| Published date | 01 May 1996 |
| Date | 01 May 1996 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9256.1996.tb00023.x |
politics
(1996)
16(2)
pp.
71-77
New
Developmen..
in
Deliberative Democracv
Ricardo
Slaug
nispaper inspects recent theoretical work
in
deliberative democracy.
It
identijes three dk-
tinct ways
in
which such theories attempt to
justafi their claims
for
an increase
in
delib-
eration. Each has
its
strengths; each has its
implications
for
practice.
If
the new delib-
erative theories are to move beyond a cri-
tique
of
liberal democracy
in
order to
articulate a legitimate and practical politics,
the respective gains
of
these three types must
be brought together.
Could Fukuyama be correct in arguing that
Liberal Democracy’s victory over Communism
signals
‘the
end of history?’
(1989).
Could
it
be that from now on, our efforts to solve
those political problems which remain
will
draw on the resources
of
liberal democratic
theory and
its
institutions, and
will
no longer
involve fundamental ideological questions?
A
political order must be both legitimate
and efficient. Thus, democratic theory has
always struggled
to
balance the moral impera-
tive of including
all
those affected in the
malung of a decision with the need to be rea-
listic. The claim that we have reached the
‘end of history’ turns on liberal democracy
having achieved such a balance.
For
this
to
be the case, we would need
to
accept that
extant electoral, party, parliamentary and
press structures adequately
feed
the
views
of
the people into the making
of
political deci-
sions, thereby satisfylng the moral imperative
for
inclusion.
It
demands also that we
see
the
preservation of the market, the autonomy of
representatives and the low cost
of
participa-
tion required by liberal democracy
as
assuring
its
efficiency. Only by swallowing both asser-
tions can we unreservedly applaud
as
coun-
tries like South Africa, Chile and Argentina
develop representational structures, free
their
presses and markets and join
us
in the final
resting place
of
political theory.
Recent interest in
deliberative theory
To many, however,
it
is
by no means clear
that political theory has at last fulfilled its
function. Quite apart from
the
enormity
of
the global problems we face, serious ques-
tions persist about liberal democracy, particu-
larly regarding
its
claim
to
legitimacy. The
clamour of excluded voices: of women,
of
ethnic and religious minorities,
is
ever
increasing, and has given rise to a rich litera-
ture calling for more participation in the
making of political decisions. This constitutes
a sigdicant revitalisation
of
participatory
theory which, since
the
community politics
of
the
sixties and
the
Women’s Movement, had
fallen into disrepute.
A
common theme in
these criticisms is that the moral claim
for
inclusion
is
not satisfied by existing repre-
sentational structures; that liberal democracy,
with
its
poor quality and quantity
of
participa-
Ricardo
Blaug,
University
of
Manchester.
0
Political Studies Association
1996.
Published by Blackwell Publishers,
108
Cowley Road, Oxford
OX4
UF,
UK
and
238
Main Street, Cambridge, MA
02142,
USA.
71
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