Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T10:58:46.638Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Institutional determinants of deliberative interaction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 November 2010

Claudia Landwehr*
Affiliation:
Schumpeter Fellow, Department of Political Science, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, D-60054 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Katharina Holzinger
Affiliation:
Chair of International Relations and Conflict Management, University of Constance, Box 90, D-78457 Konstanz, Germany
*

Abstract

A central assumption of deliberative theory is that political preferences are endogenous to decision-making processes in which they are transformed by communicative interaction. We identify discursiveness and coordination of interaction as central determinants of preference change and develop a typology of political modes of interaction that affect the likelihood of preference change differently. These properties are in turn influenced by institutional characteristics of the fora in which communicative interaction takes place. To illustrate our approach empirically we present a comparative analysis of two extreme modes of interaction, ‘debate’ and ‘deliberation’, providing a case study of a parliamentary debate and a citizen conference on the same conflict: the import of embryonic stem cells in Germany. We assess the discursiveness and coordination as well as the amount of preference transformation in both forums.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © European Consortium for Political Research 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Austin, J.L. (2002 [1962]), Zur Theorie der Sprechakte (How to Do Things with Words), Leipzig: Reclam.Google Scholar
Bächtiger, A. (2005), The Real World of Deliberation. A Comparative Study of its Favorable Conditions in Legislatures, Bern: Paul Haupt.Google Scholar
Bächtiger, A., Niemeyer, S., Neblo, M., Steenbergen, M.R., Steiner, J. (2010), ‘Disentangling diversity in deliberative democracy: competing theories, their empirical blind-spots, and complementarities’, Journal of Political Philosophy 18(1): 3263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ben Salem, A.Tannert, C. (2004), ‘Planung und Organisation der Bürgerkonferenz’, in C. Tannert and P. Wiedemann (eds), Stammzellen im Diskurs, München: Oekom, pp. 106116.Google Scholar
Bessette, J.M. (1980), ‘Deliberative democracy: the majority principle in republican government’, in R.A.S. Goldwin and A. William (eds), How Democratic is the Constitution?, Washington: AEI, pp. 102116.Google Scholar
Bohman, J. (1996), Public Deliberation. Pluralism, Complexity, and Democracy, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Bohman, J.Rehg, W. (1997), Deliberative Democracy, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandom, R.B. (1994), Making it Explicit. Reasoning, Representing, and Discursive Commitment, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Burow, O.-A.Kühnemuth, K. (2004), ‘Brauchen Wissenschaft und Politik Bürgerberatung? Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Bürgerkonferenz’, in C. Tannert and P. Wiedemann (eds), Stammzellen im Diskurs, Müchen: Oekom, pp. 117129.Google Scholar
Chambers, S. (2004), ‘Behind closed doors: publicity, secrecy, and the quality of deliberation’, The Journal of Political Philosophy 12(4): 389410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chambers, S. (2005), ‘Measuring publicity’s effect: reconciling empirical research and normative theory’, Acta Politica 40: 255266.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cohen, L.J. (1989), ‘Belief and acceptance’, Mind xcviii(391): 367389.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
della Porta, D. (2005), ‘Deliberation in movement: why and how to study deliberative democracy and social movements’, Acta Politica 40: 336350.Google Scholar
Dryzek, J. (2000), Deliberative Democracy and Beyond, Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1995), ‘Strategic uses of argument’, in K. Arrow (ed.), Barriers to Conflict Resolution, New York: W.W. Norton & Co, pp. 236257.Google Scholar
Elster, J. (1998), ‘Deliberation and constitution making’, in J. Elster (ed.), Deliberative Democracy, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 97122.Google Scholar
Erdwien, B. (2004), ‘Bürgerpartizipation als Gruppenprozess: Ergebnisse der begleitenden Evaluation’, in C. Tannert and P. Wiedemann (eds), Stammzellen im Diskurs, München: Oekom, pp. 130137.Google Scholar
Fishkin, J. (1991), The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy, New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Fishkin, J.S.Laslett, P. (eds) (2003), Debating Deliberative Democracy, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gastil, J.Levine, P. (eds) (2005), The Deliberative Democracy Handbook, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Goodin, R.E. (2003), Reflective Democracy, Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Goodin, R.E. (2005), ‘Sequencing deliberative moments’, Acta Politica 40: 182196.Google Scholar
Gutmann, A.Thompson, D. (1996), Democracy and Disagreement, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1984), The Theory of Communicative Action, Boston: Beacon Press.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (1994), Faktizität und Geltung, Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp (English translation: Between Facts and Norms, Cambridge: MIT Press).Google Scholar
Habermas, J. (2000), ‘From Kant to Hegel: on Robert Brandom’s pragmatic philosophy of language’, European Journal of Philosophy 8(3): 322355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Habermas, J. (2005), ‘Concluding comments on empirical approaches to deliberative politics’, Acta Politica 40: 384392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansen, K.M. (2004), Deliberative Democracy and Opinion Formation, Odense: University Press of Southern Denmark.Google Scholar
Harsanyi, J.C. (1955), ‘Cardinal welfare, individualistic ethics, and interpersonal comparisons of utility’, Journal of Political Economy 63(4): 309321.Google Scholar
Hendriks, C.M., Dryzek, J.S., Hunold, C. (2007), ‘Turning up the heat: partisanship in democratic innovation’, Political Studies 55(2): 362383.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henning, H.J., Erdwien, B. (2004). Bürgerkonferenz zur Stammzellforschung 2003/2004, Abschlussbericht. Bremen, Universität Bremen, Institut für Psychologie: 1–94.Google Scholar
Holzinger, K. (2001), ‘Verhandeln statt Argumentieren oder Verhandeln durch Argumentieren? Eine empirische Analyse auf der Basis der Sprechakttheorie’, PVS 42(3): 414446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holzinger, K. (2004), ‘Bargaining through arguing: an empirical analysis based on speech act theory’, Political Communication 21: 195222.Google Scholar
Holzinger, K. (2005), ‘Context or conflict types: which determines the selection of communication mode’, Acta Politica 40(2): 239254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joss, S.Durant, J. (eds) (1995), Public Participation in Science. The Role of Consensus Conferences in Europe, London: Science Museum.Google Scholar
Landwehr, C. (2009), Political Conflict and Political Preferences. Communicative Interaction between Facts, Norms and Interests, Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Macedo, S.E. (1999), Deliberative Politics. Essays on ‘Democracy and Disagreement’, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, J. (2006), ‘Conflict and self-interest in deliberation’, in S. Besson and J.L. Martí (eds), Deliberative Democracy and its Discontents, Aldershot: Ashgate, pp. 107132.Google Scholar
March, J.G.Olsen, J.P. (1989), Rediscovering Institutions. The Organizational Basis of Politics, New York: The Free Press.Google Scholar
Mutz, D.C. (2008), ‘Is deliberative democracy a falsifiable theory?’, Annual Review of Political Science 11: 521538.Google Scholar
Naurin, D. (2007), Deliberation behind Closed Doors, Colchester: ECPR Press.Google Scholar
Neblo, M.A. (2005), ‘Thinking through democracy: between the theory and practice of deliberative politics’, Acta Politica 40: 169181.Google Scholar
Niemeyer, S. (2002). Deliberation in the wilderness. Transforming policy preferences through discourse. Phd thesis. Australian National University.Google Scholar
Nullmeier, F. (2003), ‘Sprechakttheorie und Textanalyse’, in M.L. Maier, A. Hurrelmann, F. Nullmeier, T. Pritzlaff and A. Wiesner (eds), Politik als Lernprozess?, Opladen: Leske+Budrich, pp. 211223.Google Scholar
Richardson, H.S. (1994), Practical Reasoning about Final Ends, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scharpf, F.W. (1997), Games Real Actors Play. Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Schneiderhan, E.Khan, S. (2008), ‘Reasons and inclusion. The foundation of deliberation’, Sociological Theory 26: 124.Google Scholar
Searle, J.R. (1979), ‘A taxonomy of illocutionary acts’, in J.R. Searle (ed.), Expression and Meaning. Studies in the Theory of Speech Acts, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steedman, I.Krause, U. (1986), ‘Goethe’s Faust and Arrow’s possibility theorem’, in J. Elster (ed.), The Multiple Self, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 179231.Google Scholar
Steenbergen, M.R., Bächtiger, A., Sporndli, M., Steiner, J.(2003), ‘Measuring political deliberation. A discourse quality index’, Comparative European Politics 1: 2148.Google Scholar
Steiner, J., Bächtiger, A., et al. (2005), Deliberative Politics in Action, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sunstein, C.R. (2003), ‘The law of group polarization’, in J.S. Fishkin and P. Laslett (eds), Debating Deliberative Democracy, Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, pp. 80101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tannert, C.Wiedemann, P. (eds) (2004), Stammzellen im Diskurs. Ein Lese- und Arbeitsbuch zu einer Bürgerkonferenz, München: Oekom.Google Scholar
Thompson, D.F. (2008), ‘Deliberative democratic theory and empirical political science’, Annual Review of Political Science 11: 497520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar