Reflective Democracy [Paperback]

Democracy used to be seen as a relatively mechanical matter of merely adding up everyone's votes in free and fair elections. That mechanistic model has many virtues, among them allowing democracy to 'track the truth', where purely factual issues are all that is at stake. Political disputes invariably mix facts with values, however, and then it is essential to listen to what people are saying rather than merely note how they are voting. The great challenge is how to implement that deliberative ideal among millions of people at once. In this strikingly original book, Goodin offers a solution: 'democratic deliberation within'. Building on models of ordinary conversational dynamics, he suggests that people simply imagine themselves in the position of various other people they have heard or read about and ask, 'What would they say about this proposal?' Informing the democratic imaginary then becomes the key to making deliberations more reflective - more empathetic, more considered, more expansive across time and distance.

1. Introduction
Preference Democracy
2. The Autonomy of Preferences
3. The Authority of Preferences
Belief Democracy
4. Negotiating Beliefs
5. Democracy as a Condorcet Truth-Tracker
6. Democracy as a Bayesian Persuader
7. Rationalizating Persisting Opposition
Value Democracy
8. Input Democracy
9. Democratic Deliberation Within
10. Representing Excluded Interests
11. Representing Mute Interests
12. Conclusion
References
Index