ABSTRACT
This book is about theories of non-coercive public debate and discursive decisionmaking. I take Deleuze’s view of theory as a ‘toolbox’ (Deleuze, 1986: 208) and Foucault’s (1991) suggestion that books be regarded as ‘experience books’ rather than ‘truth books’. As such, I seek out theories as tools which are grounded in everyday life and practice. I examine issues of communicative persuasion from theories of convincing argumentation to those of power-full coercion and manipulation and investigate the debate between powerful communication and communicating power.
