Deliberative Character Research Articles

Green Republicanism and the ‘crises of democracy’

ABSTRACT ‘Green’ republicans link environmentalism with democracy by casting both as contributions to virtuous world-making. Such virtuous acts aim to realize freedom by contesting domination. In the context of the erosion of democratic and environmentalist achievements since the 1970s, however, a focus on the world-unmaking virtue of obstruction is warranted. ‘Democratic’ republicans urge this. They ground virtue in civic liberty, which is realized when all can participate in formulating rules and defending procedures sufficient to subject all to constraint by so-formulated rules. Civic liberty requires mobilization of majorities’ latent capacity to contest government decisions and obstruct elites’ capacity to act with impunity in relation to such rules. This norm suggests that if elites have ‘seceded’ from democracy, contestatory presumptions about the deliberative character of contemporary politics falter. And, that if many of the poor are also ‘seceding’, then the emphasis the norm places on majoritarian veto-power aimed at reining-in elite impunity might be useful to those who hope to make anti-democratic populists less attractive to some in this group.

Authorship and individualization in the digital public sphere

Authorship and individualization in the digital public sphere

From Deliberation to Pure Mobilisation? The Case of National Consultations in Hungary

Abstract National or supranational consultations on general policy questions are unusual phenomena. Nevertheless, they seem to play an important role in the political life of the community either because they might be considered as rudimentary forms of deliberative practices or because they are important strategic tools in the hands of political actors. Given this salience of consultations from both normative­deliberative and descriptive-strategic perspectives, it is surprising that academic analyses of national consultations are scarce. This paper tries to fill this gap in the literature by focusing on one of the most well­known examples of nation-wide consultations, the series of national consultations in Hungary. It aims to present why national consultations gradually lost their deliberative character and how they have been transformed into a strategic instrument for mobilising supporters.

Can Supranational Law Enhance Democracy? EU Economic Law as a Market-Democratizing Project

Abstract This article focuses on the economic regulatory component of the current backlash against liberal democracy and supranationalism in the European Union (EU). I identify a style of economic regulation that seeks to govern markets in the interest of insiders who are framed as vulnerable to the challenges of economic globalization – what I call rearguard economic regulation. While such regulation may be useful to reinforce national cultural attachments and a sense of belonging, it also has an anti-pluralist character that threatens markets’ emancipatory orientation. By identifying this challenge, the article seeks to defend a vision of markets as contributing to the promise of democracy, by fostering a plurality of options in each sphere of life. In the European context, I argue, EU economic law may be understood as advancing the realization of such a vision of markets. Viewed in this light, supranational and, specifically, EU economic law appear not so much as ordo- (or neo)-liberal straightjackets on national democracy but, instead, as providing mechanisms for democratization of the economy and society. Such democratizing potential is attributable to (i) the pluralist outlook of the law of EU integration, which forces member states to confront the plurality of forms of economic and social life existing within the polity and being further diversified by globalization as well as (ii) the deliberative and open-ended character of EU law adjudication, which may allow for progressive re-articulations of national market regulation.

The Means of Revival

Throughout the second and third quarters of the nineteenth century, Charles Grandison Finney distinguished himself as the most successful evangelical preacher in the United States. Trained as a lawyer before converting to Christianity and its ministry, Finney came to the pulpit with a fiercely rational and accusatory style that placed demands upon his listeners. In formulating his appeal, Finney also fashioned an innovative Protestant theology that challenged New England Calvinism. After establishing that each sinner has the power to self-reform, he spread the message to audiences across the Northeast, sparking a series of revivals that made his reputation. In the 1830s, Finney was asked to explain his method from his New York City pulpit, and did so across twenty-two lectures that detailed his revival strategy. This essay employs Finney’s theory of individual conversion to examine his theory of mass revival, noting the essentially deliberative character of each and recognizing the lasting influence of both on evangelical life in the United States.

Reflexivity through positionality meetings: religion, muslims and ‘non-religious’ researchers

ABSTRACT This paper contributes to current debates on positionality by critically discussing and comparing three researchers’ experiences doing research involving Muslims. We introduce positionality meetings to enhance reflexivity in qualitative research projects. Based on empirical evidence from our independent projects and the positionality meetings, this paper illustrates how efforts to understanding each other’s perspectives and positions, which differ in identities and biographies, challenge our accounts of self-reflexivity. Due to their deliberative character, positionality meetings reveal new and sometimes uncomfortable insights into, for instance, insider and outsider relationships and our attitudes towards religion as a research subject in a particular political context. The paper highlights several stages of the meetings to demonstrate the deliberative practice’s value throughout the collective reflexive process. Serving to an interdisciplinary audience, we encourage qualitative researchers to engage in positionality meetings. Therefore, we conclude this paper by providing recommendations on how to organise such meetings.

A representação política nos conselhos de saúde: desafios empíricos e analíticos

Em função do caráter deliberativo, os Conselhos de Saúde (CS) são instâncias privilegiadas de participação social por meio da representação política. Entretanto, há inúmeras evidências científicas que apontam dificuldades no exercício da representação conselhista. O objetivo deste artigo foi compreender a noção de representação política que orienta a atuação dos conselheiros. Trata-se de um Estudo de caso, conduzido através de entrevistas semi-estruturadas com os membros do Conselho Municipal de Saúde de Viçosa, Minas Gerais, no período de abril a junho de 2012. Os depoimentos foram analisados por meio de “Análise Temática”, conforme procedimento proposto por Bardin (2008). Em relação ao contexto de estudo, os resultados demonstraram distanciamento dos pressupostos teóricos da representação política revelando situações de defesa de interesses particulares em detrimento de interesses coletivos, desconhecimento e/ou omissão das demandas das bases de representação e incipiente articulação com as mesmas. Em acréscimo, observou-se que os instrumentos e mecanismos accountability e responsabilização, responsáveis pelas sanções no sistema de tradicional de representação política parlamentar, revelaram-se inadequados para a realidade do CS, comprometendo a integralidade da representação política e, por conseguinte, da participação social.

Processos deliberativos em políticas sociais: uma análise da efetividade institucional de conselhos gestores a partir da percepção de seus conselheiros

Este trabalhou buscou situar as relações entre Estado e sociedade civil no contexto atual da democracia brasileira em termos da emergência de novas temáticas de política social na agenda governamental, com foco nos mecanismos instituídos para garantir a interface socioestatal nessas áreas. Analisou-se a percepção dos conselheiros que integram o Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar, o Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Rural Sustentável e o Conselho Nacional de Economia Solidária sobre diferentes dimensões de seu funcionamento, no intuito de compreender sua dinâmica, estrutura e efetividade (interna e externa). A partir da sistematização das respostas, foi possível traçar as percepções desses representantes acerca da atuação, avaliação do funcionamento e influência dos conselhos abordados na estrutura decisória governamental. Os resultados permitem inferir que a sociedade civil valoriza e se empenha na consolidação de mecanismos de democracia participativa, como no caso dos conselhos de políticas públicas. No entanto, o caráter deliberativo desses conselhos e a falta de instrumentos normativos que garantam um maior poder de influência de suas deliberações nos processos decisórios são obstáculos reais que fragilizam o potencial de proposição e construção de projetos inovadores em cada área na qual estão vinculados.

Conselhos Escolares na Rede Estadual do Rio de Janeiro: participação ou participacionismo?

A presente discussão se propõe a refletir sobre a participação, na perspectiva da gestão democrática, dos membros dos conselhos escolares no âmbito da rede estadual do Rio Janeiro, partindo das análises dos textos produzidos pela Secretaria de Estado de Educação (SEEDUC/RJ) e dos contextos que influenciaram a instituição dos organismos colegiados nesta rede. O artigo apresenta um debate sobre o cenário em que foram instituídos os conselhos escolares nas escolas estaduais e, para tanto, analisou-se os textos oficiais que tratam das competências dos membros do órgão. Sublinha-se a ausência do caráter deliberativo deste colegiado conforme determinado pela legislação que o regulamentou. A discussão traz elementos para a reflexão da transformação social por meio da participação dos sujeitos, propondo um processo dialógico e participativo que não dependam exclusivamente de leis, mas que, sobretudo, estejam articulados com os propósitos de se concretizar os ideais de uma sociedade mais justa, partindo de relações mais horizontais. Acreditamos que a ausência do caráter deliberativo poderá interferir nas estratégias de uma gestão democrática, levando a crer que descaracteriza a concepção de participação no seu sentido mais amplo, dando lugar a uma forma mais semelhante de participacionismo (TRAGTENBERG, 2005)

Anchoring policy development around stable points: An approach to regulating the co-evolving ICT ecosystem

The daunting pace of innovation in the information and communications technology (ICT) landscape, of technology and business structure, is a well-known but under-appreciated reality. In contrast, the rate of policy and regulatory innovation is much slower, partly due to its inherently more deliberative character. We describe this disparity in terms of the natural rates of change in different parts of the ecosystem, and examine why it has impeded attempts to impose effective regulation on the telecommunications industry. We explain why a recent movement to reduce this disparity by increasing the pace of regulation – adaptive regulation – faces five obstacles that may hinder its feasibility in the ICT ecosystem. As a means to achieve more sustainable regulatory frameworks for ICT industries, we introduce an approach based on finding stable points in the system architecture. We explore the origin and role of these stable points in a rapidly evolving system, and argue that they can provide a means to support development of policies, including adaptive regulation approaches, that are more likely to survive the rapid pace of evolution in technology.

Natural Law And Civil Law in John Locke

This paper deals with the relationship between natural law and civil law in John Locke’s philosophy. Although renowned scholars have claimed that such a relationship is deductive, this paper will try to show a different interpretation and argue that the relationship between civil law and natural law is one of determination. Far from being a mere deduction of an immutable natural law, civil law plays a determinative role in natural law. As we shall see, this interpretation highlights something that Locke held in high regard: the deliberative character of natural law. Citizens’ deliberation in the legislature to some extent creates natural law. Citizens are thus free to determine the law, and participating in such a determination is crucial to their political liberty. In this sense, as we shall explain, Locke’s political liberty is akin to republicanism.

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This paper deals with the relationship between natural law and civil law in John Locke’s philosophy. Although renowned scholars have claimed that such a relationship is deductive, this paper will try to show a different interpretation and argue that the relationship between civil law and natural law is one of determination. Far from being a mere deduction of an immutable natural law, civil law plays a determinative role in natural law. As we shall see, this interpretation highlights something that Locke held in high regard: the deliberative character of natural law. Citizens’ deliberation in the legislature to some extent creates natural law. Citizens are thus free to determine the law, and participating in such a determination is crucial to their political liberty. In this sense, as we shall explain, Locke’s political liberty is akin to republicanism.

The Hustling Candidate and the Advent of the Direct Primary: A California Case Study

Many political scientists and historians attribute the candidate-centered campaign, a defining characteristic of the modern American political system, to the appearance of the direct primary during the Progressive Era. During the nineteenth century, when the major parties selected their nominees in conventions, office seekers maintained a lower profile, and partisan-minded voters were not overly influenced by the personal characteristics of the candidates. Using California as a case study, this essay traces the emergence of a new breed of aggressive office seekers at the turn of the twentieth century. It looks specifically at the canvassing activities of would-be gubernatorial nominees in the weeks leading up to the state convention. In its heyday, the convention system marginalized elective office seekers. The multilayered convention system was too decentralized and complex to be manipulated in the interests any one candidate. Candidates began to exert more influence over the nomination process in the waning years of the nominating convention. The introduction of state regulation of party functions took control of the process out of the hands of local partisan clubs and cliques. Delegates began to be selected on the basis of their affiliation with a gubernatorial candidate. Conventions lost much of their deliberative character, and voting blocs emerged tied to particular candidates through the unit rule. By the time the direct primary appeared on the scene in 1909, the aggressive office seeker was already a fixture on the political landscape. In short, scholars have exaggerated the impact of the shift from indirect to direct nominations and have overlooked the implications of the regulation of political parties when the convention system was still in place. The direct primary was part of a long tradition of reform designed to serve the interests of the parties' office-seeking or office-holding contingent at the expense of the party organization.

El debate parlamentario y el uso de la palabra

El debate es la forma de trabajar del Parlamento y lo que a la postre le confiere su rasgo más destacado frente a los otros poderes del Estado. Existe una clara interdependencia entre el carácter representativo y el carácter deliberante del Parlamento. Cumple un papel fundamental e insustituible en la democracia, por lo que debe ser cuidado en extremo: la opinión pública puede conocer la actitud de cada partido sobre cada ley y cada problema político. Al mismo tiempo le permite valorar la capacidad y preparación de sus representantes. Constituye una escuela de democracia y tolerancia, al acostumbrar a los ciudadanos a oír con respeto las opiniones ajenas. El debate debe ser amplio y libre, pero también mínimamente ordenado. A tal fin se dirigen las diversas reglas sobre el uso de la palabra: solicitud de la misma, no interrupción, prohibición de lectura de discursos y otras. El presidente de la Cámara desempeña una función muy destacada para conseguir una participación igualitaria y para evitar excesos en uso de la palabra. En España el debate es muy restrictivo por cuanto se centra en los portavoces de los grupos, sin apenas ocasión de intervenir para otros parlamentarios. Se permite la lectura de discursos con lo cual se pierde espontaneidad y de resultas merma el interés de los ciudadanos.The debate is the way of working of Parliament and ultimately what gives it its most prominent feature in relation to the other branches of government. There is a clear interdependence between the representative and deliberative character of Parliament. Further it plays an irreplaceable role in democracy, so it must be carefully managed: the public opinion can know the attitude of each party on each law and political problem. At the same time it allows to evaluate the capacity and preparedness of the representatives. It is a school of democracy and tolerance so far it accustoms the public to hear other opinions respectfully. The debate should be broad and free, but also minimally ordered. To this end, various rules govern the manner of speaking: the request of the floor, not interruption, prohibition of reading speeches and others. The Speaker of the House plays an outstanding role to achieve equal participation and to avoid improper use of the floor. In Spain the debate is very restrictive because it is focused on the spokespersons of the political groups, with little opportunity to speak to other lawmakers. It allows reading speeches thus it loses spontaneity and as a result decrease the interest of citizens.

Questioning discourse quality online or how to deal with the deliberative character of contemporary (social) communication?

Questioning discourse quality online or how to deal with the deliberative character of contemporary (social) communication?

A formação de um espaço de civilidade em Natal [RN], Praça Augusto Severo (1845-1913)

Durante o século XIX a centralidade de Natal foi ameaçada por outros entrepostos comerciais, surgidos para contornar os obstáculos naturais que dificultavam o escoamento da produção da província do Rio Grande do Norte pela capital. Chega-se a conjecturar a mudança da capital em 1873 ao se buscar novas soluções para esse embate. No final do século XIX um novo ciclo de investimentos se esboça. Ele é marcado pela introdução de um novo meio de transporte que alterava drasticamente a escala espaço-temporal. Esse equipamento marcava a chegada da modernidade nas intervenções territoriais, em que as redes urbanas ganhavam um caráter cada vez mais deliberativo. As novas políticas territoriais eram claramente orientadas para a centralização dos fluxos na capital.Seja para aperfeiçoar os lucros de uma ferrovia particular, ou para obedecer a um plano nacional de fortalecimento das capitais portuárias o objetivo era o mesmo: concentrar em um único ponto – a capital – os meios de transporte. O controle do território deixou marcos físicos muito visíveis na Capital. Este trabalho tem por objetivo demonstrar como essas políticas territoriais se evidenciaram no espaço urbano da capital do Rio Grande do Norte, contribuindo para construir uma nova centralidade na cidade, que se firmou posteriormente como seu principal espaço de representação da civilidade.

Democrazia deliberativa e Convenzione europea dei diritti umani

Theories of deliberative democracy have rapidly become very popular amongst political scientists. The central argument of these theories is that democratic legitimacy of lawmaking does not lie (or does not only lie) in the elected character of Parliaments but in public deliberation processes. Decisions have to be justified by reasons and reasons have to be publicly debated. Legitimacy also depends on the opportunity for citizens to participate effectively in public debates. In this paper I argue that the European Court of Human Rights can be a key player in promoting a democracy based on public deliberation and that in the last decade the Court has been influenced by this conception of legitimate government. First, I suggest that the Court has promoted political debate by establishing the principle that freedom of expression deserves a higher degree of protection, if it claims to be in the public interest. Second, the Court has also been able to protect the outcome of a deliberative process. In deciding whether or not the State’s interference with an individual’s right is necessary in a democratic society, the Court has recently given a certain importance to the deliberative character of a national measure. However this has happened in areas where the State’s margin of appreciation is wide. Furthermore, the analysis also considers how the Court has dealt with three critical questions in the theory of deliberative democracy, namely the ways in which deliberative democracy can be harmonized with representative democracy ; the place of human rights among the preconditions of deliberation; and the place that judicial review (of laws regulating human rights) can have in a deliberative democracy.

Combining deliberative governance theory and discourse analysis to understand the deliberative incompleteness of centrally formulated plans

In the past few decades governments in Western European countries have put increasing efforts into creating new green and forest areas in and around cities. At first sight, these centrally formulated plans seem to run counter to the current trend towards less central steering and more participation (and deliberation). However, closer scrutiny in two cases of green structure planning in the Netherlands and Flanders – Balij-Biesland forest and Park forest Ghent – reveals that we are facing a seemingly contradictory image of central steering on the one hand and openness to various actors and ideas on the other. This paper takes a closer look at this ambivalent situation using the two theoretical perspectives of deliberative governance and a discourse analysis. Although the green structure planning exercises did not intentionally have a deliberative character, we argue that such a perspective can and should be put on situations where new local coalitions challenge the centrally formulated plans, and try to start deliberations about their ideas In order to become more specific about the ‘deliberative incompleteness’ of the two Flemish and Dutch processes, a discourse-analytical focal point needs to be taken as well. Normatively, the paper first addresses the diversity of viewpoints and openness to preference shifts in the Dutch and the Flemish cases. It concludes that in the course of both processes, a high diversity of viewpoints surfaced, as well as a certain degree of openness to preference shifts. When the two processes are subjected to discourse analysis, it becomes evident however that the preference shifts occurring as a result of the input of a greater diversity of viewpoints did not bring about changes in some vital discursive practices that had been connected to the green structure planning and implementation processes. It was suggested, therefore, that combining the two theoretical perspectives gives a good insight into ‘deliberative incompleteness’ and highlights persistent institutional obstacles to come to more inclusive green structures in urbanized areas.

Conselhos Municipais de Saúde do Brasil: um debate sobre a democratização da política de saúde nos vinte anos do SUS

Over 17 years, Health Councils were created in the 5,564 Brazilian towns, recruiting about 72,000 councilors. Authors affirm that the institutionalization of the Council is important for the democratization of municipal health policy, as it increases the actors who are participating in its decision-making process. However, they state that this is not enough to make this process fully democratized. This setting is investigated through a new census research about the functioning of the Municipal Health Councils. To understand it, we use three analytical dimensions (autonomy, organization and access) made up of 18 variable. The analysis of results shows that the MHCs have problems with autonomy and organization and good performance in access. Distribution by population size reveals that the best results are in the MHCs of towns with more than 250,000 inhabitants, and the worst are those in towns with a population below 50,000. The problems identified are reactions to the institutionalization of the MHCs. These reactions come from governors who consider the attributes and the deliberative character of the MHCs to be threatening to their interests. They occur due to their low cost, as the rules of the decision-making process do not discourage them. Here, we seek to understand reactions and rules, presenting proposals for overcoming problems.

Re-examining Mead

Despite decades of scholarship on G.H. Mead (1863—1931), we are still far from an adequate estimate of the full scope of his contributions. In this article, I examine the standard caricature that portraits Mead as an essentially idealist thinker, without much to say on the `material conditions of reproduction' of modern industrialized societies. Focusing on Habermas's version of this interpretation, I try to show that if `science and democracy' is a common theme amongst classical pragmatists, Mead is the only of these to whom we owe a communicative social theory that systematically connects science's problem-solving nature to democracy's deliberative character by means of social psychology that establishes the social nature of the human self. To suggest otherwise is to ignore that Mead's intellectual edifice is perhaps best described as a system in a state of flux, a structure that comprises three ever-evolving pillars: experimental science, social psychology, and democratic politics.