A Review of the Empirical, Systemic and Rhetoric Turns in Deliberative Theory

En este trabajo se ofrecerá un balance del giro empírico de la teoría deliberativa. Se sostendrá que el mismo (a) aporta abundante evidencia empírica tendente a demostrar las potencialidades de la deliberación pública; (b) pone de relieve el gran número de factores que condicionan tales procesos de deliberación y (c) subraya las divergentes condiciones que favorecen la satisfacción de determinadas expectativas normativas asociadas al ideal de democracia deliberativa. Esta última observación ha insuflado un renovado impulso a las aproximaciones sistémicas y retóricas a la deliberación. En la segunda parte de este trabajo, se las caracterizará brevemente, expondrá su mutua complementariedad e identificarán sus actuales déficits y retos.In this paper the empirical turn in deliberative theory is reviewed. It is argued, first, that empirical research provides abundant evidence showing the potentialities of public deliberation. Furthermore,it has greatly contributed to identifying the diverse elements that condition deliberative processes. Last but not least, empirical research has underscored the divergent conditions that contributepositively to satisfying many of the normative expectations associated to deliberative democracy. This last point has injected fresh impetus to systemic and rhetorical perspectives in deliberative theory. In the second part of this paper, these two approaches are briefly discussed. Their main features and complementarities, as well as their shortcomings and thus future challenges, are shown