عنوان

The Quasi-Sovereign People:

Number

TL84n4b58j

.Language of Text, Soundtrack etc

انگلیسی

Title Proper

The Quasi-Sovereign People:

General Material Designation

[Thesis]

First Statement of Responsibility

Bensley, William Bryce

Title Proper by Another Author

Public Opinion and the Challenges Facing Deliberative Democracy

Subsequent Statement of Responsibility

Norris, Andrew

Name of Publisher, Distributor, etc.

UC Santa Barbara

Date of Publication, Distribution, etc.

2018

Body granting the degree

UC Santa Barbara

Text preceding or following the note

2018

Text of Note

Deliberative democracy has become the dominant framework for theorizing the politicalrelationship between citizens and the state. In particular, many have turned to this conceptionof democratic politics in debating the proper role that public opinion should play in the broadscope of politics, while also comparing these aspirations to empirical democratic realities. This dissertation considers and challenges optimistic accounts of the place for deliberative public opinion in contemporary democratic politics. The argument which emerges alleges that deliberative theorists have failed in defending the theory from critiques of inconsistency and/or incoherence. In preparing the critique, I first locate deliberative democracy within the historical outlines of political theory more generally. I then describe generational statements of the theory and accompanying critiques, drawing upon empirical literature which provides a sobering portrait of the inefficacy of the average (non-deliberative) citizen. The upshot of the discussion suggests that the twin goals of obtaining a 'deliberative' and 'democratic' political culture confront dim prospects. I draw upon recent debates revolving around the 'Systemic Turn' to suggest that deliberative democracy risks running its course as a useful theory of political life. I conclude by considering whether deliberative democracy can be salvaged as a regulatory ideal as it becomes married to political realism, given changing political contexts and socio-political malleability.

Bensley, William Bryce

Norris, Andrew

UC Santa Barbara

Electronic name

p

[Thesis]

276903

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