This volume assesses the strengths and weaknesses of deliberative democracy.

The epistemic dimension of democratic authority? / David Estlund -- What deliberative democracy means / Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson -- Political communication in media society : does democracy still enjoy an epistemic dimension / Jurgen Habermas -- Deliberative democracy and the case for depoliticising government / Philip Pettit -- Legitimacy and economy in deliberative democracy / John S. Dryzek -- Making deliberative democracy practical : public consultation and dispute resolution / James S. Fishkin -- Deliberative impacts : the macro-political uptake of mini-publics / Robert E. Goodin and John S. Dryzek -- Reviving randomness for political rationality : elements of a theory of aleatory democracy / Hubertus Buchstein -- Models of democratic deliberation / Noelle McAfee -- Deliberative democracy or agonistic pluralism / Chantal Mouffe -- New mediation and direct representation : reconceptualizing representation in the digital age / Stephen Coleman -- The Internet, deliberative democracy, and power : radicalizing the public sphere / Lincoln Dahlberg -- Global democracy / Joshua Cohen and Charles F. Sabel -- Governance-driven democratization / Mark E. Warren -- Varieties of participation in complex governance / Archon Fung -- Participatory governance as deliberative empowerment : the cultural politics of discursive space / Frank Fischer

A collection of articles on the theory and practice of deliberative democracy edited by Robert Cavalier.

The contributions in this anthology address tensions that arise between reason and politics in a democracy inspired by the ideal of achieving reasoned agreement among free and equal citizens.

Deliberative democracy has been one of the main games in contemporary political theory for two decades, growing enormously in size and importance in political science and many other disciplines. The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy takes stock of deliberative democracy as a research field, in philosophy, in various research programmes in the social sciences and law, and in political practice around the globe. It provides a concise history of deliberative ideals in political thought and discusses their philosophical origins. The Handbook locates deliberation in political systems with different spaces, publics, and venues, including parliaments, courts, governance networks, protests, mini-publics, old and new media, and everyday talk. It engages with practical applications, mapping deliberation as a reform movement and as a device for conflict resolution, documenting the practice and study of deliberative democracy around the world and in global governance.

The most widely debated conception of democracy in recent years is deliberative democracy--the idea that citizens or their representatives owe each other mutually acceptable reasons for the laws they enact. Two prominent voices in the ongoing discussion are Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson. In Why Deliberative Democracy?, they move the debate forward beyond their influential book, Democracy and Disagreement. What exactly is deliberative democracy? Why is it more defensible than its rivals? By offering clear answers to these timely questions, Gutmann and Thompson illuminate the theory and practice of justifying public policies in contemporary democracies. They not only develop their theory of deliberative democracy in new directions but also apply it to new practical problems. They discuss bioethics, health care, truth commissions, educational policy, and decisions to declare war. In "What Deliberative Democracy Means," which opens this collection of essays, they provide the most accessible exposition of deliberative democracy to date. They show how deliberative democracy should play an important role even in the debates about military intervention abroad. Why Deliberative Democracy? contributes to our understanding of how democratic citizens and their representatives can make justifiable decisions for their society in the face of the fundamental disagreements that are inevitable in diverse societies. Gutmann and Thompson provide a balanced and fair-minded approach that will benefit anyone intent on giving reason and reciprocity a more prominent place in politics than power and special interests.

In Deliberative Freedom, Christian F. Rostbøll accepts the common belief that democracy and freedom are intimately related, but he sees this relationship in a new and challenging way. Rostbøll argues that deliberative democracy is normatively committed to multiple dimensions of freedom, and that this, in turn, makes it a distinct model of democracy. He presents a new version of deliberative democracy that rejects the prevailing synthesis of Habermasian critical theory and Rawlsian political liberalism, and contends that this synthesis obscures and neglects important concerns in terms of freedom and emancipation. In addition, Rostbøll explores how the many dimensions of freedom supply a new and fruitful way to address issues such as paternalism, elitism, rationalism, and neutrality.