Is deliberative democracy possible during a pandemic? Reflections of a bioethicist.

Via a content analysis of 4,800 comments from online commenting forums of top news sites, this research examines the overall quality of the comments. Expanding the scope of previous research in this area and guided by the theory of deliberative democracy, the normative conditions for quality discourse were measured with six parameters: civility, reciprocity, reflexivity, rationality, diversity, and relevance. In measuring the quality of the comments, two conditions were the identity of the commenter.

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The possibility of democratic socialism in Habermas

European Journal of Social Theory ◽

10.1177/1368431020986892 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 136843102098689

Author(s):

Pedro A. Teixeira

Keyword(s):

Political Economy ◽

Deliberative Democracy ◽

Economic Organization ◽

Democratic Socialism ◽

Theory Of Justice ◽

Liberal Democratic ◽

Political Economic ◽

Theory Of Democracy ◽

Economic Regime ◽

The Ideal

In keeping with the radical openness of his theory of democracy, Habermas avoided pre-determining the ideal mode of economic organization for his favoured model of deliberative democracy. Instead of attempting a full-blown derivation, in this article, I propose adapting the Rawlsian method of comparing different political–economic regimes as candidate applications of his theory of justice to Habermas’s theory of deliberative democracy. Although both theorists are seen as endorsing liberal democratic world views, from the perspective of political economy, the corollary of their conceptions of democracy would arguably veer elsewhere: in Rawls’s case, into the territory of property-owning democracy or democratic socialism, and in Habermas’s, into any political–economic regime which guarantees the real exercise of full political and discursive liberties against the background of legitimate lawmaking. The ultimate aim of this article is to discuss whether a concrete conception of democratic socialism, if any, is compatible with Habermas’s theory of deliberative democracy.

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Public Journalism and Deliberative Democracy

Polity ◽

10.1086/polv34n3ms3235394 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 34 (3) ◽

pp. 313-336 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Albert W. Dzur

Keyword(s):

Deliberative Democracy ◽

Public Journalism

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Democratic education in the fourth generation of deliberative democracy

Theory and Research in Education ◽

10.1177/14778785211017102 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 147787852110171

Author(s):

Kei Nishiyama

Keyword(s):

System Theory ◽

Deliberative Democracy ◽

Democratic Education ◽

Fourth Generation ◽

Deliberative System

While the discussion on education for deliberative democracy is increasingly gaining prominence, there is a deep gap between the theories of deliberative democracy and democratic education with respect to what deliberative democracy is and ought to be. As a result, theories and practices of democratic education tend to be grounded in a narrow understanding of the meaning of deliberative competencies, students’ deliberative agency, and the role of schools in deliberative democracy. Drawing on the latest theorization of deliberative democracy – deliberative system theory – this article aims to question and revise these assumptions. The article suggests that meta-deliberation is a key practice that can reconcile the gap between the two theories.

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Political corruption in Zimbabwe: News media, audiences and deliberative democracy

Crime Media Culture An International Journal ◽

10.1177/17416590211022416 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 174165902110224

Author(s):

Mthokozisi Phathisani Ndhlovu ◽

Phillip Santos

Keyword(s):

Deliberative Democracy ◽

News Media ◽

Political Action ◽

Qualitative Content Analysis ◽

Political Corruption ◽

Political Elite ◽

The Political ◽

Media Audiences ◽

Mainstream Media ◽

Ruling Party

Even though corruption by politicians and in politics is widespread worldwide, it is more pronounced in developing countries, such as Zimbabwe, where members of the political elite overtly abuse power for personal accumulation of wealth. Ideally, the news media, as watchdogs, are expected to investigate and report such abuses of power. However, previous studies in Zimbabwe highlight the news media’s polarised and normative inefficacies. Informed by the theoretical notion of deliberative democracy developed via Habermas and Dahlgren’s work and Hall’s Encoding, Decoding Model, this article uses qualitative content analysis to examine how online readers of Zimbabwe’s two leading daily publications, The Herald and NewsDay, interpreted and evaluated allegations of corruption leveled against ministers and deputy ministers during the height of factionalism in the ruling party (ZANU PF). The article argues that interaction between mainstream media and their audiences online shows the latter’s resourcefulness and, at least, discursive agency in their engagement with narratives about political corruption, itself an imperative premise for future political action.

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