Markus Spörndli

‘Deliberative politics’ refers to the role of conversation and arguments in politics. Until recently discussion of deliberative politics took place almost exclusively among political philosophers, but many questions raised in this philosophical discussion cry out for empirical investigation. This book provides the first extended empirical study of deliberative politics, addressing, in particular, questions of the preconditions and consequences of high level deliberation. Using parliamentary debates in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States as an empirical base, the authors measure the level of deliberation by constructing a ‘Discourse Quality Index’. As deliberative politics moves to the forefront of political theory, this book makes an important contribution to deliberative democracy.

‘Deliberative politics’ refers to the role of conversation and arguments in politics. Until recently discussion of deliberative politics took place almost exclusively among political philosophers, but many questions raised in this philosophical discussion cry out for empirical investigation. This book provides the first extended empirical study of deliberative politics, addressing, in particular, questions of the preconditions and consequences of high level deliberation. Using parliamentary debates in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States as an empirical base, the authors measure the level of deliberation by constructing a ‘Discourse Quality Index’. As deliberative politics moves to the forefront of political theory, this book makes an important contribution to deliberative democracy.

Deliberative Demokratietheorien gehen davon aus, dass diskursive Prozesse politische Entscheidungen beeinflussen und dabei auch reale Machtverhaltnisse zu uberwinden vermogen. In diesem Band wird der Zusammenhang zwischen Diskurs und Entscheidung im Kontext reprasentativer Politik erstmals einem empirisch-analytischen Ansatz zuganglich gemacht. Die mehrheitlich quantitativen Analysen bestatigen einerseits das deliberative Postulat, dass diskursive Prozesse Einigungen fordern. Andererseits ist die Diskursqualitat praktisch ohne Einfluss auf die Realisierung substanzieller Gleichheitspostulate. Insbesondere zeigt sich, dass die Wirksamkeit diskursiver Prozesse entscheidend von ausgeglichenen Mehrheitsverhaltnissen abhangt. Diskurse vermogen reale Machtverhaltnisse also keinesfalls auszublenden, konnten aber innerhalb der liberalen Demokratie als argumentative Gegeninstanzen etabliert werden.