Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review 2011, 47(3): 447-472 | DOI: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.01

Crisis and Innovation of Liberal Democracy: Can Deliberation Be Institutionalised?

Claus Offe
Hertie School of Governance, Berlin

The paper explores the possible contributions of deliberative procedures of political will formation to solving the problems encountered by liberal democracies today. To begin with, four functions of liberal democracy are distinguished: securing international peace, guaranteeing legal as well as political peace domestically, and producing good active citizens. The following part of the argument distinguishes four structural features characteristic of democratic regimes: stateness, rule of law, political competition, and accountability of the rulers. Thirdly, a brief summary of critical accounts concerning democracy's actual failures and symptoms of malfunctioning is presented. In the final section, two families of institutional innovations that are currently being proposed as remedies for the observed deficiencies of democracy are explored: those leading to a better aggregation of given preferences of the citizens and those aimed at improving the process of preference formation itself. It is the latter, which constitutes the field of deliberative politics that is investigated at some length. Beneficial effects of deliberative procedures and essential features of deliberative structures are discussed with reference to latest developments in the theory and empirical research on deliberative democracy.

Keywords: theory of democracy, liberal democracy, deliberative politics, crisis of democracy, institutional design

Published: June 1, 2011Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Offe, C. (2011). Crisis and Innovation of Liberal Democracy: Can Deliberation Be Institutionalised? Sociologický časopis / Czech Sociological Review, 47(3), 447-472. doi: 10.13060/00380288.2011.47.3.01.
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Ackerman, Bruce and Ian Ayres. 2004. Voting with Dollars: A New Paradigm for Campaign Finance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    2. Ackerman, Bruce and James S. Fishkin. 2004. Deliberation Day. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    3. Coote, Anna and Jo Lenaghan. 1997. Citizens' Juries: Theory into Practice. London: Institute for Public Policy Research.
    4. Crouch, Colin. 2004. Post-Democracy. Cambridge: Polity.
    5. Crouch, Colin. 2008. 'What Will Follow the Demise of Privatised Keynesianism?' The Political Quarterly 79 (4): 476-487. Go to original source...
    6. Crozier, Michel J., Samuel P. Huntington and Joji Watanuki. 1975. The Crisis of Democracy. New York: NYU Press.
    7. Dahl, Robert A. 2000. On Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    8. Dalton, Russell J. 2004. Democratic Challenges, Democratic Choices. The Erosion of Political Support in Advanced Industrial Democracies. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    9. Dienel, Peter C. 1997. Die Planungszelle. Eine Alternative zur Establishment-Demokratie. Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag. Go to original source...
    10. Fishkin, James S. 1991. Democracy and Deliberation. New Directions for Democratic Reform. New Haven, CT, London: Yale University Press.
    11. Fishkin, James S. 1995. The Voice of the People. Public Opinion and Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    12. Fishkin, James. 2009. When the People Speak. Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    13. Fung, Archon and Erik Olin Wright (eds.). 2003. Deepening Democracy. Institutional Innovations in Empowered Participatory Governance. London: Verso.
    14. Gastil, John, Chiara Bacci and Michael Dollinger. 2010. 'Is Deliberation Neutral? Patterns of Attitude Change during "The Deliberative Polls".' Journal of Public Deliberation 6 (2). Retrieved 1 February 2011 (http://services.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1128&context=jpd). Go to original source...
    15. Goodin, Robert E. 1982. Political Theory and Public Policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
    16. Goodin, Robert E. 2003. 'Democratic Accountability: The Distinctiveness of the Third Sector.' Archives Européennes de Sociologie 44 (3): 359-369. Go to original source...
    17. Goodin, Robert E. 2004. 'Input Democracy.' Pp. 79-100 in Power and Democracy, edited by Frederik Engelstad and Oyvind Osterud. Aldershot: Ashgate.
    18. Goodin, Robert E. and John S. Dryzek. 2006. 'Deliberative Impacts: The Macro-Political Uptake of Mini-Publics.' Politics and Society 34 (2): 219-244. Go to original source...
    19. Guéhenno, Jean Marie. 1993. La Fin de la démocratie. Paris: Flammarion.
    20. Heller, Hermann. (1933) 1983. Staatslehre. Tübingen: Mohr 1983.
    21. Hinrichs, Karl. 2002. 'Do the Old Exploit the Young? Is Enfranchising Children a Good Idea?' Archives Européennes Sociologiques 43 (1): 35-58. Go to original source...
    22. Kant, Immanuel. (1795) 2006. 'Toward Perpetual Peace.' Pp. 67-109 in Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace and History. Rethinking the Western Tradition, edited by Pauline Kleingeld. New Haven, CT, London: Yale University Press.
    23. Lijphart, Arend. 1997. 'Unequal Participation. Democracy´s Unresolved Dilemma.' American Political Science Review 91 (1): 1-14. Go to original source...
    24. Lipset, Seymor M. 1981. Political Man. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.
    25. Lukes, Steven. 2005. Power. A Radical View. London: Palgrave. Go to original source...
    26. Mill, John S. 1861. Considerations on Representative Government. London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, West Strand.
    27. Mutz, Diana C. 2008. 'Is Deliberative Democracy a Falsifiable Theory?' Annual Review of Political Science 11: 521-538. Go to original source...
    28. Nassmacher, Karl Heinz. 2009. Political Finance. Baden-Baden: Nomos.
    29. Neblo, Michael A., Kevin M. Esterling, Ryan P. Kennedy, David M. J. Lazer and Anand E. Sokhey. 2010. 'Who Wants to Deliberate-and Why?' American Political Science Review 104 (3): 566-583. Go to original source...
    30. O'Connor, James. 1973. The Fiscal Crisis of the State. New York: Saint Martin's Press.
    31. Offe, Claus. 1992. 'Bindings, Shackles, Brakes: On Self-Limitation Strategies.' Pp. 63-94 in Cultural-Political Interventions in the Unfinished Project of Enlightenment, edited by Axel Honnth, Thomas McCarthy, Claus Offe and Albrecht Wellmer. Cambridge, MA, London: MIT Press.
    32. Offe, Claus. 1997. 'Microaspects of Democratic Theory: What Makes for the Deliberative Competence of Citizens?' Pp. 81-104 in Democracy's Victory and Crisis, edited by Axel Hadenius. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Go to original source...
    33. Offe, Claus. 2006. 'Political Disaffection as an Outcome of Institutional Practices? Some Post-Tocquevillean Speculations.' Pp. 23-45 in Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies. Social Capital, Institutions and Politics, edited by Mariano Torcal and J. R. Montero. London: Routledge.
    34. Pharr, Susan J. and Robert D. Putnam (eds.). 2000. Disaffected Democracies. What's Troubling the Trilateral Countries? Princeton: Princeton University Press. Go to original source...
    35. Phillips, Anne. 1995. The Politics of Presence: The Political Representation of Gender, Ethnicity and Race. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    36. Rosanvallon, Pierre. 2008. Counter-democracy: Politics in an Age of Distrust. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Go to original source...
    37. Santos, Bonaventura de S. 1998. 'Participatory Budgeting in Porto Alegre: Toward a Redistributive Democracy.' Politics & Society 26 (4): 461-510. Go to original source...
    38. Schattschneider, Elmer Eric. 1960. The Semi-sovereign People. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
    39. Schmitter, Philippe C. 2000. 'The Prospects of Post-Liberal Democracy.' Pp. 25-40 in Kontingenz und Krise, edited by Karl Hinrichs, Herbert Kitschelt and Helmut Wiesenthal. Frankfurt: Campus.
    40. Schmitter, Philippe C. and Alexander H. Trechsel (eds.). 2004. The Future of Democracy in Europe. Trends, Analysis and Reforms. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
    41. Sen, Armatya. 1999. Development as Freedom. New York: Knopf.
    42. Smith, Graham. 2005. Beyond the Ballot: 57 Democratic Innovations from around the World. Retrieved 1 February 2011 (http://www.powerinquiry.org/publications/documents/BeyondtheBallot_000.pdf).
    43. Smith, Graham. 2009. Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Go to original source...
    44. Solt, Frederick. 2008. 'Economic Inequality and Democratic Political Engagement.' American Journal of Political Science 52 (1): 48-60. Go to original source...
    45. Tocqueville, Alexis de. (1835, 1840) 1988. Democracy in America. New York: Vintage.
    46. Torcal, Mariano and J. R. Montero (eds.). 2006. Political Disaffection in Contemporary Democracies. Social Capital, Institutions and Politics. London: Routledge. Go to original source...
    47. Warren, Mark E. 2003. 'A Second Transformation of Democracy?' Pp. 223-249 in Democracy Transformed?, edited by B. C. Cain, R. J. Dalton and Susan E. Scarrow. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Go to original source...
    48. Warren, Mark E. and Hilary Pearse (eds.). 2008. Designing Deliberative Democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0), which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content