ABSTRACT
Robert A. Dahl's outline of a future democratic society has influenced the study of deliberative democracy—a system in which informed debate is important to the process of reaching decisions. He suggests creating deliberative bodies that would include a thousand randomly selected citizens—bodies he called minipopuli; each minipopulus would thoroughly debate a specific policy issue, helping to inform the decisions of the governmental bodies that debate and pass laws. Dahl's outline of a future democratic society has greatly influenced the study of democratic theory. Deliberative democracy theorists have taken up Dahl's idea of the minipopulus and explored it in their own work. The favorable outcomes of democratic procedures include: the provision of essential rights; the avoidance of tyranny; the promotion of freedom and moral autonomy; the promotion of political equality—for Dahl, the most important outcome. One part of Dahl's Democracy and Its Critics that has attracted particular attention is his solution for promoting democratic deliberation.
