From Participation to Deliberation: A Critical Genealogy of Deliberative Democracy - Paperback

by Antonio Floridia (Author)

In 2006, Barack Obama wrote that the 'framework of our constitution' is designed 'to force us into a "deliberative democracy" in which all citizens are required to engage in a process of testing their ideas against an external reality, persuading others of their point of view'. His statement is just one of the many examples of the contemporary relevance of deliberative democracy. But where does this model come from? When was it born and how did it develop? Starting from the 1980s, this book provides the first, complete history of the idea of deliberative democracy, analysing its relationship with the earlier idea, and practices, of participatory democracy in the 1960s and 1970s. The author provides a lucid and detailed analysis of the texts and authors that have contributed to this theoretical field and, in the final chapter, proposes a possible guiding map of today's complex deliberative field, in its present configuration.

Author Biography

Antonio Floridia graduated in Philosophy in Florence and has worked for a long time in an institute of economic and social research, dealing with public policy analysis, political sociology and electoral studies. Since 2005 he's directed the Sector 'Policies for Citizen Participation' and the Electoral Observatory of Tuscany. He has had teaching assignments at the Faculty of Political Science, University of Florence; and is President of the Italian Society of Electoral Studies (2014-2017). He has published numerous essays and books in the field of policy analysis, electoral studies, participatory and deliberative democracy. Among his most recent publications, see the volume La democrazia deliberativa: teorie, processi e sistemi (Rome, 2012)