Deliberative democracy

Ph. Urfalino began by showing how a number of works devoted to argumentation and deliberation in the 1990s and 2000s paved the way for the abundant literature on deliberative democracy, whereas in the 1960s argumentation was far from being considered central to political life. To understand the literature on deliberative democracy, we need to show that it is intended to answer three questions. Deliberative democracy is intended as a response to pluralism: in our societies, a normative order that enables consensus can no longer dominate. Deliberative democracy is also a way of organizing public reason, based on argumentation. Finally, to a certain extent, it is intended as a renewal of representative democracy, insofar as it puts the responsibility of those in power to the test.