ABSTRACT

It is curious that the theory of deliberative democracy which relies so much on the beneficial effects of public deliberation (e.g. see Manin 1987; Elster 1998a; Fearon 1998) should pay so little attention to the concept of the public itself. At first sight this omission may not look like a pressing problem. After all, deliberation is sometimes referred to as collective conversation whereby the participants or citizens reason together publicly about their common norms, institutions and policies. Why would this clear-from-the-start commitment of deliberative politics to public openness not suffice?