Deliberativ demokrati i praktiken : Begränsning eller utveckling av den representativa demokratin

Bachelor essay in political science by Andreas Byfeldt, autumn 2007 ”The practice of deliberative democracy - limitations or enhancements of representative democracy?” Supervisor: Erik Amnå The purpose of this study is to find out what impact the practice of deliberative democracy might have on a representative democracy. What effects deliberative democracy could have in this context are scientifically as well as publically relevant seeing that participation in representative democracies as well as the forms of representation is altering. The essay contains both a theoretical segment and a case study. The information regarding the case is based on the results from a questioner, conversations by and observations from the author. In addition an analysis is performed in the case study. The conclusion of the essay is that there is too little empirical research on the subject of deliberative democracy to make a qualified conclusion about what effects the practice of deliberative democracy could have on a representative democracy. We can though, from the facts that are available, suppose that deliberative democracy can function as a complement to representative democracy by securing a representative interface of the population