Introduction: democracy as public deliberation

One of the most remarkable developments in the last twenty years has been the revival of the idea of deliberative democracy. Set against the previous dominance of aggregative models of democracy derived from economics and the theory of rational choice, the idea of deliberative democracy, or decision making based on public deliberation among free and equal citizens, represents a highly significant development in democratic theory. ¹ This development, as a number of commentators have noted, is best viewed as a revival of earlier conceptions of democratic citizenship, rather than as a modern innovation. The idea of deliberative democracy and its practical implementation/ Elster notes, ‘are as old as democracy itself. Both came into being in Athens in the fifth century b.c.’ ² A crucial statement supporting this view may be found in Pericles’ Funeral Oration, where he praises the Athenians for the high value they placed on political deliberation: ‘instead of looking on discussion as a stumbling-block in the way of action, we think it an indispensable preliminary to any wise action at all’. ³