ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the step that deliberation has taken from the micro-spheres of institutional decision-making and social movements to the public realm of the citizenry. It also analyzes the origins, specificities and impact of the deliberative practices used in the assemblies of the 15M movement. The chapter argues that four factors differentiate the 15M from other social movements namely: individual participation versus established collectives; the absence of a program of action; a horizontal organizational structure that prioritizes deliberation; and a novel way of thinking about political relations between state powers and civil society and within civil society itself. The 15M's own structure had a contrived horizontality that demanded deliberative behavior from participants. The outing of deliberative practices began with the occupation of the public space. In addition to the occupation of the public space, the 15M differs from other social movements in the degree of formalization of deliberation.
