Why Deliberative Democracy?

• Author: Asen, Robert
• Position: Book review

Why Deliberative Democracy? By Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004; pp. vii + 217. $55.00 cloth; $16.95 paper.

In a series of essays and a book, political philosophers Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson have developed an influential model of deliberative democracy. Their efforts have focused on a crucial issue for citizens of contemporary democratic societies and for scholars interested in improving public deliberation: moral disagreement. Against the positions of some other philosophers, Gutmann and Thompson have held that disagreements are not necessarily indicative of error or a temporary destination en route to consensus. Instead, disagreement calls for a theoretical approach that articulates critical norms that may guide inclusive and respectful deliberation.

Why Deliberative Democracy? consists mostly of previously published essays. The exception is the lengthy first chapter, "What Deliberative Democracy Means," which Gutmann and Thompson authored for the volume. This chapter provides a concise overview of the authors' perspective, distinguishes deliberative democracy from alternative models, and responds to recent challenges to the larger deliberative democracy project. As such, the first chapter serves as a clear overview of debates in philosophy and a cogent explication of some of the obstacles that proponents of deliberative democracy must overcome if the theory is to fulfill its promise to present a descriptively and prescriptively illuminating account of contemporary democratic practices.

Gutmann and Thompson define deliberative democracy as "a form of government in which free and equal citizens (and their representatives) justify decisions in a process in which they give one another reasons that are mutually acceptable and generally accessible, with the aim of reaching decisions that are binding in the present on all citizens but open to challenge in the future" (7). In advancing this definition, Gutmann and Thompson identify deliberative democracy as a "second order" principle of democracy. Whereas first-order theories (e.g., libertarianism, communitarianism) seek to resolve moral disagreements by demonstrating which among a field of alternatives ought to be accepted, second-order theories present means for dealing with the conflicting claims of first-order theories. The key term in Gutmann and Thompson's model is reciprocity. They write that the "basic premise of reciprocity is that...