Reconstructing the Concept of Democratic Deliberation

Although democracy is a contested concept, much of this contest begins with substantial agreement. Theorizing is anchored by a focus on the nature of the individual citizen. There follows a normative consideration of personal rights, namely autonomy and its social corollary, equality. The problem of democratic governance is conceived accordingly. It is one of crafting institutions that facilitate collective decision-making in a manner consistent with these fundamental values and thus with the common good. Beyond this quite general orientation, significant divergence emerges over how individuals are conceptualized and consequently over how autonomy and equality should be defined. Division over how best to institutionalize democratic governance follows. This paper focuses on the recent contribution to this theoretical debate made by the advocates of deliberative democracy. It briefly sketches the deliberative position, and then critically considers the adequacy of its conception of the individual and offer an alternative view of cognition, emotion and communication. I conclude by presenting the implications of this alternative for the understanding of the democratic values of autonomy and equality and for the conception of democratic procedure