Deliberative Politics in Action Analyzing Parliamentary Discourse [Hardcover]

The first empirical study of the role of conversation and arguments in politics, based on analysis of parliamentary debates.This book offers an empirical study of deliberative politics which stresses the role of conversation, argument and negotiation in politics, and in democratic government in particular. Using the 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, characterized by a high inter-coder reliability. As deliberative politics moves to the forefront of political theory, this book makes an important and exciting contribution to deliberative democracy.This book offers an empirical study of deliberative politics which stresses the role of conversation, argument and negotiation in politics, and in democratic government in particular. Using the 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, characterized by a high inter-coder reliability. As deliberative politics moves to the forefront of political theory, this book makes an important and exciting contribution to deliberative democracy.Stressing the role of conversation, argument and negotiation in politics, particularly in democratic government, this book offers an empirical study of deliberative politics. Using the 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, characterized by a high inter-coder reliability.Introduction: the research questions; 1. Institutions and behaviour: the example of consociational theory; 2. The philosophical literature on deliberative politics; 3. Measuring deliberation: a Discourse Quality Index; 4. Understanding the real world of delibels)