Preventing the Atrophy of the Deliberative Stance. Considering Non-Decisional Participation as a Prerequisite to Political Freedom
Preventing the Atrophy of the Deliberative Stance. Considering Non-Decisional Participation as a Prerequisite to Political Freedom

Summary/Abstract: In order to be exercised meaningfully, political freedom requires the capacity to actually identify available policy options. To ensure this, society ought to engage in deliberation as a discussion oriented towards mutual learning. In order to highlight this issue, I define deliberation in terms of the participants’ openness to preference change, i.e. the delibera- tive stance. In the context of the systemic approach to deliberative theory, I find several factors causing the atrophy of such a deliberative stance. I note that this state can occur not only when debaters are representatives or are in the presence of an audience, but also when they face the prospect of a binding decision. It is the latter effect that is a serious challenge to the micro-deliberative strategy, one that strives towards decisional powers being granted to deliberative minipublics. Presenting my findings, I propose—as an alter- native to the power-oriented ‘ladder of participation’—a distinction between traditional co-decision and deliberative consultation, the latter one being (in certain systemic con- texts) an environment that is more conducive to deliberative stance. This new typology highlights factors that lead to preference petrification and allows for the appreciation of the non-decisional character of micro-deliberation. All of it leads to the conclusion that, in order to preserve their deliberative character in the systemic context, deliberative min- ipublics should not always be required to have decision-making powers.

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