ABSTRACT
As discourses are generated and sustained through the exchange of reasons by the participating actors, this chapter makes the intersubjective basis of political discourse more central to the analysis of deliberative quality in the public sphere. This means that we move from speaker-addressee relationships, the prevalent focus of Chapter 4, to more complex formations that represent deliberative coalitions. The coalition concept spells out the intuitive idea that actors in the political process are united by a common discursive orientation towards common third parties, which they support, criticise or confront with their demands. These larger associations of actors lie beyond single speaker-addressee relationships and cut across institutional boundaries, including political parties, civil society and economic actors as well as the media.
