Deliberation Without Democracy?

Abstract

Jurgen Habermas is a major influence on debates surrounding deliberative democracy in contemporary political thought. The analysis of mini-publics is flourishing in deliberative democratic theory. This is motivated by the insurmountable obstacles that beset efforts to realize society-wide democratic deliberation. This chapter introduces the issues raised by the use of mini-publics in non-democratic contexts. It reconsiders the example of deliberative polling in China in light of the guidelines. For its guidelines might appear to presuppose that the strengths and weaknesses of mini- publics in non-democratic societies are to be measured according to their contribution to the long-term realization of ‘Western-style' democratic institutions. The chapter argues that a Habermasian perspective suggests a supportive yet critical attitude towards the use of these micro deliberative forums in non-democratic contexts. The performance of the Chinese deliberative polls according to this criterion is much harder to gauge.