Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Deliberation'
To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Deliberation.
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Deliberation.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Chappell, Zsuzsanna. "Deliberation disputed : a critique of deliberative democracy." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2008. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2340/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis critically re-examines deliberative democracy from a rational and social-choice-theoretic perspective and questions its dominance in current democratic theory. I define deliberative democracy as reasoned, inclusive, equal and other-regarding debate aimed at making decisions collectively. The thesis examines both procedural and epistemic justifications for deliberative democracy. Procedural justifications are based on the normative values that underpin the theory of deliberative democracy: reasoned debate, equality and inclusion. The epistemic justification of deliberative democracy states that it will arrive at better outcomes or the truth more often than other democratic procedures. I conclude that the justifications offered for the claim that the model of deliberative democracy is superior to other models of democracy are not solid enough to warrant the strength of the conclusions presented in the literature. The thesis also examines whether deliberation is likely to produce the positive consequences that its proponents ascribe to it by using findings from deliberative experiments, political science, psychology and other social sciences. I find that many assumptions about human nature and motivation that deliberative democrats make cannot be supported by empirical evidence. They do not sufficiently consider problems of instrumental rationality, cognitive limitations, self-interested behaviour and a lack of motivation to participate in highly resource intensive activities. Furthermore, the model of deliberative democracy is based on a very particular conception of politics. This conception is somewhat apolitical, requires a high level of popular participation and conflicts with other, more adversarial or interest-based conceptions of politics. Through these findings I challenge the dominant position of deliberative democracy in the current literature on democratic theory and argue in favour of a more comprehensive theory of democracy that puts more emphasis on other democratic mechanisms, such as representation or interest group politics.
2
Leven, Felicia. "Deliberation i klassrummet? : En studie om det deliberativa samtalet i skolans klassrum utifrån ett deliberativt demokratiperspektiv." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen, 2017. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-317176.
Full text
3
Flynn, Thomas William. "Debating deliberative democracy : how deliberation changes the way people reason." Thesis, University of York, 2011. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/1466/.
Full textAbstract:
The concepts of deliberation and deliberative democracy have attracted much attention in political theory over the past twenty years. At first seen as both highly idealised and unreflective of reality, they have now shed this accusation of impracticality, as practitioners and policy makers alike have attempted to institute deliberative principles on a national and international scale. Running alongside this has been the desire to both understand political deliberation and its effects more fully, and to then apply this new information back to deliberative democratic theory. This thesis sits in the latter tradition, presenting an empirical investigation of political deliberation and then discussing how it relates back to deliberative models of democracy. Where it departs from all of the contemporary experimental work, however, is the methodology and conceptual model it is founded upon. Embracing the decision and game theoretic approaches, I develop a three-fold framework to study the effects of deliberation on individual decision-making. After outlining two levels of 'preference' and 'issue', I focus on the third, which I term agency. I then compare a particular case of agency revision, which moves people from individualistic to team reasoning, before developing and putting into action an experimental test of the phenomenon. Finally, I then combine these results with the most recent drive in deliberative democracy towards a systemic approach, and derive an alternative, more positive argument for this recasting.
4
Tomm, Jonathan Michael. "Deliberation in anarchy." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/51645.
Full textAbstract:
How do cooperative rules and agreements emerge in anarchical situations of political conflict between or within states? This dissertation responds to this question by developing an innovative theory of the role that deliberation plays in the emergence of rule-based cooperation under anarchy. “Deliberation” refers to a kind of political talk in which participants attempt to persuade each other on the basis of convincing reasons. Deliberation promises to be an important vehicle through which political opponents make and follow cooperative rules together. The problem, however, is that because deliberation has primarily been studied in the context of strong, liberal-democratic states, we do not yet have an adequate understanding of how it can be effective under more anarchical conditions. Without the security provided by strong institutions and relatively thick “lifeworlds” of shared culture and norms, deliberative responses to politics are more likely to be scuttled by mistrust and mutual suspicion.
The theory developed here addresses this challenge by highlighting and investigating the often-overlooked relational effects of deliberation. Deliberation is not just about the content of the reasons political opponents offer one another. It is also about the fact that they are offering reasons at all, and about what that implies for the kind of actions they can expect from each other. Most importantly, deliberation can be a way for interlocutors to demonstrate their accountability to each other: their willingness to uphold, and count on others to uphold, shared standards of behaviour. In this way deliberation can help to generate the bonds of trust and mutually acknowledged commitment that political opponents need in order to act on shared rules and understandings. In developing this theory, the dissertation offers new conceptual tools for understanding how productive politics, based on negotiation, persuasion, and shared rules, can get a toehold even under difficult conditions.Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
Graduate
5
De, Kenessey Brendan. "Joint practical deliberation." Thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113783.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis: Ph. D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Linguistics and Philosophy, 2017.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 175-181).
Joint practical deliberation is the activity of deciding together what to do. In this dissertation, I argue that several speech acts that we can use to alter our moral obligations - promises, offers, requests, demands, commands, and agreements - are moves within joint practical deliberation. The dissertation begins by investigating joint practical deliberation. The resulting account implies that joint deliberation is more flexible than we usually recognize, in two ways. First, we can make joint decisions not only about what we will do together, but also about what you or I will do alone. Second, we can deliberate by means of two distinct methods: propose-and-ratify, in which a proposed joint decision must be explicitly accepted to come into effect, and propose-and-challenge, in which a proposed joint decision comes into force unless it is explicitly challenged. Varying these parameters generates a botany of different kinds of proposals we can make within joint deliberation. When we look at these proposals more closely, we make a surprising discovery: for each kind of proposal we can make in joint practical deliberation, there is an everyday speech act with the very same properties. A certain kind of proposal to make a joint decision regarding one's own actions has the same normative effects, under the same conditions, as a promise. One kind of proposal to make a joint decision regarding one's addressee's actions has all the essential features of a command; another kind of deliberative proposal - with the same content but a different method of evaluation - looks exactly like a request. And so on. These similarities are too systematic to be coincidental. The only explanation, I argue, is that these ordinary speech acts are identical to their doppelgangers within joint practical deliberation. Promises and offers are proposals to make joint decisions about what I will do. Commands, demands, and requests are proposals to make joint decisions about whatyou will do. And agreements are joint decisions about what we will do. Call this the deliberative theory of these speech acts. Considering each speech act in turn, I defend the deliberative theory by arguing that it provides a uniquely powerful explanation of its targets' social and moral significance. Once we see how naturally these speech acts fall out of our practice of joint deliberation, theories that treat them as sui genens - as many moral philosophers now do - will come to seem redundant and nonexplanatory. Conversely, thinking of promises, offers, commands, demands, requests, and agreements as moves within joint practical deliberation allows us to give an elegant and generative theory of these phenomena that have confounded moral philosophers for so long.
by Brendan de Kenessey.
Ph. D.
6
Min, Seong Jae. "Deliberation, East Meets West: Exploring the Cultural Dimension of Citizen Deliberation." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1243277918.
Full text
7
Min, Seong-Jae. "Deliberation, east meets west exploring the cultural dimension of citizen deliberation /." Columbus, Ohio : Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc%5Fnum=osu1243277918.
Full text
8
MUHAMMAD, IRFAN. "Comparative Political Philosophy and Political Deliberation: An Exploration of Deliberative Practices in Pakistan." Doctoral thesis, Luiss Guido Carli, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/11385/201067.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis attempts to explore deliberative practices in Pakistan. In doing so, it draws on and extends the literature produced under two relatively new academic fields—the fields of deliberative theory and comparative political philosophy—which are gaining prominence in the academic world. Although these two academic fields appear quite different but this thesis argues that they are not only complimentary but can also benefit each other in their further theoretical development. In order to show this complimentary relationship between deliberative theory and comparative political philosophy, this thesis explores deliberative practices in an authoritarian non-Western context. More specifically, it explores the role of deliberation in the democratization of Pakistan. This thesis analyzes the case of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement during the military dictatorship (2007-2009) and how it paved the way to the process of democratization in the country. Although democratization of societies at large has always been at the core of deliberative theory, but comparative studies of democratization have completely missed the deliberative aspect which makes transition to democracy possible. Through Dryzek’s concept of deliberative capacity, this thesis investigates the role of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement in building this capacity across different locations in the political system. The concept of deliberative capacity is being used in the larger context of systemic turn in deliberative theory. This latest trend helps us to study deliberation at a macro level and is not specifically tied to liberal institutional arrangements of states in the West. This thesis attempts to interpret Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement through the lens of deliberative theory. Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement throws new light on the normative aspects of deliberative theory and also helps us to understand the nature of deliberation in Pakistani context. The case of Pakistan Lawyers’ Movement provokes reflection on normative principles of deliberative democracy, helps us understand the nature of deliberation in an authoritarian context, extends current scholarship on the comparative studies of democratization by spelling out the deliberative potential of the regime, and contributes to the ongoing debate on comparative political philosophy as an academic field in the age of globalization.
9
Novaes, Flávio Santos. "Se Conselho fosse bom... A efetividade deliberativa de conselhos municipais de habitação na Bahia." Escola de Administração da Universidade Federal da Bahia, 2016. http://repositorio.ufba.br/ri/handle/ri/21428.
Full textAbstract:
Submitted by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2016-10-11T20:53:21Z
No. of bitstreams: 1
Novaes, Flávio Santos.pdf: 1569915 bytes, checksum: e2ec2286f432c8c17766d42d09e1b7f5 (MD5)Approved for entry into archive by Tatiana Lima (tatianasl@ufba.br) on 2017-02-15T19:03:55Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Novaes, Flávio Santos.pdf: 1569915 bytes, checksum: e2ec2286f432c8c17766d42d09e1b7f5 (MD5)
Made available in DSpace on 2017-02-15T19:03:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Novaes, Flávio Santos.pdf: 1569915 bytes, checksum: e2ec2286f432c8c17766d42d09e1b7f5 (MD5)
Esta pesquisa analisa a efetividade deliberativa de conselhos gestores de habitação em três municípios baianos: Salvador, Vitória da Conquista e Camaçari. Para tanto, recorre a técnicas qualitativas como entrevistas, pesquisa documental e observação, e se classifica como um estudo de caso múltiplo. O estudo discute os limites da democracia representativa brasileira, ainda com traços autoritários, conservadores e centralizadores do Estado, apesar dos esforços de movimentos sociais e de gestores públicos para ultrapassá-los, introduzindo instituições participativas na gestão pública. Para compreender os meios de ampliação da democracia representativa e o papel que os conselhos municipais de habitação podem exercer, este estudo utiliza conceitos como democracia participativa e deliberativa, deliberação pública e efetividade deliberativa. O objetivo é avaliar a efetividade deliberativa dos conselhos municipais de habitação, mediante a deliberação, aprovação e fiscalização de políticas públicas que supostamente contribuiriam para a universalização do direito à moradia e a solução de sérios problemas habitacionais dos municípios. Foram utilizadas categorias de análise como o contexto de criação desses fóruns e a ação da gestão municipal para assegurar seu caráter deliberativo, a ação de representantes da sociedade civil nas discussões e deliberações, a influência de interesses do capital imobiliário e da construção civil sobre as políticas municipais de habitação, e os efeitos das políticas habitacionais das esferas federal e estadual sobre as políticas municipais e os seus conselhos. Os resultados da pesquisa indicam que os conselhos de habitação não apresentam efetividade deliberativa na universalização do acesso à moradia de interesse social, pois carecem do apoio de gestões municipais, que não liberam recursos financeiros para os fundos de habitação, não convocam regularmente as reuniões ou não implementam integralmente suas deliberações. Os conselhos gestores e as políticas locais de habitação sofrem a influência indireta de interesses do capital imobiliário e da construção civil, interessados em projetos padronizados e de grande porte, a despeito de projetos diversificados de requalificação urbana em comunidades carentes. Os conselhos de habitação também perdem sua capacidade deliberativa quando os municípios dependem de transferências de recursos e se resumem à mera operacionalização de políticas habitacionais aprovadas por outros entes da federação. Assim, o caráter deliberativo dos conselhos de habitação é comprometido pelos resquícios autoritários e centralizadores do Estado brasileiro, pelo controle desses fóruns por representantes da gestão municipal, nem sempre comprometidos com sua democratização e com o seu fortalecimento, revelando uma assimetria de poder e de recursos, o despreparo técnico e político de conselheiros que representam segmentos da sociedade civil. Esses fatores impedem o avanço em direção a uma democracia participativa ou deliberativa, configurando o que conceituo como pós-participativismo na gestão pública.
This research analyzes the deliberative effectiveness of housing councils in three municipalities in Bahia: Salvador, Vitoria da Conquista and Camaçari. In order to accomplish this, it uses qualitative techniques such as interviews, documentary research and observation, and is classified as a multiple case study. This study discusses the limits of Brazilian representative democracy, still with authoritarian traits, conservative and centralized state, despite the efforts of social movements and public managers to overcome them, introducing participatory institutions in public administration. To understand the expansion of means of representative democracy and the role that municipal housing councils can exercise, this study uses concepts such as participatory and deliberative democracy, public deliberation and deliberative effectiveness. The objective is to evaluate the deliberative effectiveness of housing councils through deliberation, approval and monitoring of public policies that supposedly contribute to the universal right to housing and the solution of serious housing problems of municipalities. Further, categories of analysis were used as the context of creating these forums and the action of municipal management to ensure its deliberative character, the action of civil society counselors in their discussions and deliberations, the influence of interests of real estate capital on municipal housing policies, and the effects of housing policies at the federal and state levels on municipal policies and their councils. In addition, research results indicate that housing councils do not have deliberative effectiveness in universal access to housing of social interest because they lack the support of municipal administrations, which do not release budget for housing funds, do not regularly convene meetings or do not fully implement its deliberations. The management councils and local housing policies suffer the indirect influence of real estate capital interested in standard designs and large scale projects, despite diverse projects of urban regeneration in disadvantaged communities. Also, Housing councils lose their deliberative capacity when municipalities rely on funds transfers and reduce to mere operationalization of housing policies adopted by other federal entities. Thus, the deliberative character of housing councils is committed by Brazil's authoritarian remnants; the control of these forums by representatives of the municipal administration, not always compromised to democratization and its strengthening, revealing an asymmetry of power and resources, and civil society counselor’s lack of technical and political skills. These factors thwart progress toward a participatory or deliberative democracy, setting up what I conceptualize as ‘pós-participativismo’ in public management.
10
Siedschlag, Alexander. "Digitale Demokratie : Netzpolitik und Deliberation." Universität Potsdam, 2005. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/texte_eingeschraenkt_welttrends/2010/4798/.
Full textAbstract:
Academics have been arguing about the political and social changes initiated by communication technologies for more than hundred years. Internet-politics does not have the potential to form a new digital culture of deliberation. The existing background of communication culture is a very important variable which has not been incorporated before. The author suggests five different concepts of politics based on the internet. The model of digital democracy provides a basis for exploring the interconnection between internetbased politics and change in political and communication culture. Digital democracy has the potential to make a difference in public deliberation; however, it needs concerned elites and prudent governance.
11
Beauvais, Edana. "Talking across boundaries: interracial deliberation." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/34598.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of my work is to clarify the contingencies that enable the normative expectations of deliberative democracy in the context of interracial deliberation, as well as to understand the conditions under which deliberation contributes to the contrary, and catalyzes racial prejudice and group polarisation. I argue that understanding how interracial deliberation can promote the expectations of deliberative theory, such as the identification of common interests or mutual-recognition across racial divides, entails understanding the context under which discourse takes place. For instance, I show that communication between members of different races is less likely to promote beneficial outcomes when discussion partners suffer from economic or material insecurity, and if resultant interracial interactions are characterized by fear, distrust, or hatred. The role of emotions is central to my understanding of the possibility for successful discourse.
In this piece I justify the use of deliberative theory as a framework for understanding race-relations and white values and opinions. I also consider the macro-level antecedents to affect; that is, I consider the structural features of American society that shape the feelings whites harbour toward blacks. The importance of affect for deliberation is reviewed. The effects of interracial socialisation and diversity in communication networks on value and opinion formation are also considered. In this piece I employ original research to clarify the relationship between affect, interracial socialisation, and the racial attitudes of whites. Using data from the Detroit Area Study (2004) I find that variables measuring both the social and economic well-being of neighbourhoods, as well as a variable measuring beliefs about ‘special favours’ for blacks, have a significant impact on the feelings whites harbour toward blacks.
12
Davies, Robert Anthony. "Self-knowledge, deliberation, and memory." Thesis, University of York, 2017. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/17965/.
Full textAbstract:
In this thesis, I argue that the epistemology of memory is a useful but neglected explanatory resource in the philosophical treatment of problems associated with introspection. Not only is a far-reaching convergence in our thinking about introspective failure and memory failure, but by focusing on the epistemology of memory it is possible to explain much of what is thought special about knowledge of our own minds. To demonstrate, I arrange the purportedly distinctive features of self-knowledge into a list of desiderata that can be used to measure the success of a theory. Once the desiderata are clear, it can be shown how the epistemology of memory plays an important role in explaining how a prominent approach of self-knowledge might be successful, and how memory can explain or enhance explanations of some of the main desiderata. To demonstrate the extent to which the memory can be explanatorily useful in this domain, I construct a test theory of self-knowledge around a standard case of recollection and show that it fares well against most if not all desiderata.
13
Alexandre, Cesar da S. "Diversity management : a philosophical deliberation." Thesis, Cape Technikon, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11838/1007.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (MTech(Business Administration)--Cape Technikon, Cape Town, 2004My central thesis is, that certain social systems and cultures have supported modern economic growth and human progress, whereas others have not. Countries and, winning organizations that have been able to jump ahead out of the laggard have done so, because they developed a conquering culture of rigor and work, removed from the influences of invisible forces. The world at the beginning of the twenty first century is still, divided between the few who are rich and powerful and the many who are poor and powerless, between the free and the oppressed. Traditional'explanations like imperialism, dependency, colonialism and racism are no longer adequate after so many decades. Increasingly researchers are reasoning that the principal reason why some countries and ethnic groups are better off than others lies in cultural values and beliefs and attitudes, which powerfully shape political, economic and social performance, and share the view that value and attitude change is indispensable to progress for those who are lagging. There is a methodological difference between myself and some people who are consistently uncritical of the values and attitudes of a culture, and think people ought to resign themselves to economic and social values that condemn them to poverty and subservience, in the name of cultural purity. The power of cultural values, beliefs and attitudes to promote or resist progress has been largely ignored. Culture is a significant determinant of a nation's ability to prosper, because it shapes individual's thoughts and behaviours, and the way individuals think about progress.
14
Nyberg, Anders. "Demokratisk undervisning eller undervisning i demokrati : -en studie av skolans dubbla uppdrag." Thesis, Växjö University, School of Education, 2007. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:vxu:diva-1510.
Full textAbstract:
Syftet med detta arbete har varit att belysa i vilken mån deliberativa samtal eller deliberativa inslag förekommer i undervisningen och om det i så fall kan vara en väg att lösa skolans dubbla uppdrag avseende kunskaps- och demokratiuppdraget. Fallstudien har genomförts vid en gymnasieskola, där ett arbetslag från industriprogrammet och ett från samhällsprogrammet har medverkat i dels en öppen enkät, dels i en fokusgruppsdiskussion. Studien visar att deliberativa samtal och deliberativa inslag förkommer i varierande grad i undervisningen, vilket ger underlag för att dra vissa slutsatser. Resultatet visar övervägande positiva effekter genom elevernas ökade engagemang, ett förbättrat klassrumsklimat, en ökad kvalité på undervisningen, elevernas positiva personliga utveckling samt underlättandet för utveckling av en demokratisk kompetens. Svårigheter som kan identifieras med arbetssättet är elevers bristande språkkompetens, elever utan samtals och diskussionstradition, tidsbrist och avsaknaden av metoden genom hela skoltiden.
15
Kashefi, Elham. "Citizens' Juries: From Deliberation to Intervention." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.485233.
Full textAbstract:
. This thesis is a post-hoc analysis of two citizens' Juries ,that took place in Burnley, I~:ast Lancashire, between 1998 and 2000. One was commissioned by a community organisation as an independent piece of activist research, the other was funded by a statutory agency in response to the government drive to increase public involvement in decision maki~g. I provide some analysis of why the government may be pursuing community involvement, and· how, as researchers and activists, we should position ourselves in response to this. I. argue that the drive towards increased public involvement is part of a 'governing at a distance'; that concepts such as community, social cohesion and social capital can be seen as technologies of government, used to shape and control our attitudes, and therefore our behaviour, and that community development is in danger of being used as a governmental tool to deliver Third Way social policies, to create active citizens and placate the disaffected. I consider how constructions of 'the public' have limited rather than increased participation, and by considering current initiatives in health, argue that public involvement has become part of the audit or performance management of public services and professionals. I examine the development of citizens' juries and argue that rather than opening up opportunities for debate, citizens' juries have more often acted as spaces which silence citizens. I re-examine the Burnley juries, and drawing on the transcripts and evaluation interviews, present the different ways they could be seen as technologies· of intervention. In the concluding chapter, I consider the potential of the juries to have been implicated in increasing social control of people in South West Burnley, but maintain that their significance lay in their capacity to open up new spaces for knowledge creation based on the stories of people's lives.
16
Van, Zee Emily Hanke. "Use of information in decision deliberation /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1989. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/9085.
Full text
17
Hawes, Nicholas Andrew. "Anytime deliberation for computer game agents." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2004. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/100/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents an approach to generating intelligent behaviour for agents in computer game-like worlds. Designing and implementing such agents is a difficult task because they are required to act in real-time and respond immediately to unpredictable changes in their environment. Such requirements have traditionally caused problems for AI techniques. To enable agents to generate intelligent behaviour in real-time, complex worlds, research has been carried out into two areas of agent construction. The first of these areas is the method used by the agent to plan future behaviour. To allow an agent to make efficient use of its processing time, a planner is presented that behaves as an anytime algorithm. This anytime planner is a hierarchical task network planner which allows a planning agent to interrupt its planning process at any time and trade-off planning time against plan quality. The second area of agent construction that has been researched is the design of agent architectures. This has resulted in an agent architecture with the functionality to support an anytime planner in a dynamic, complex world. A proof-of-concept implementation of this design is presented which plays Unreal Tournament and displays behaviour that varies intelligently as it is placed under pressure.
18
Kim, Do Hyoung. "The nature of deliberation in Aristotle." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/10624.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation argues that: (1) deliberation (bouleusis) is distinguished from theoretical thought, in so far as the former is strictly about the particulars of a given situation, while the latter is about universal concepts; and that (2) deliberation is practical only in so far as it prescribes the best option for action, that is, it prescribes practical truth, but there is no element within the deliberative soul that can initiate an action directly. With these two points in mind, I will show in Chapter One that what lets us consistently cognize the moral ‘end’, the moral first principle, is a character or emotional disposition we acquire as a result of habituation (ethismos). Having explained how the conception of ends can be determined, I provide an argument for the first thesis mentioned above, and claim in Chapter Two that deliberation is not of the ends (ta telê), but is only of the means (ta pros to telos). My argument for the second thesis will lead me to claim in Chapter Three that prohairesis, the conclusion of deliberation, is not an action. I end my argument with an investigation showing that the interpretation of Aristotelian deliberation supported in this thesis secures its justification not only in those discussions that are directly related to the nature of deliberation, but also in the context of other important discussions in Aristotle’s ethics, namely, about the possibility of acrasia (in Chapter Four) and the definition of eudaimonia (in Chapter Five). My argument will provide a better treatment and solution, than existing attempts, of the puzzles surrounding the concepts of acrasia and eudaimonia in Aristotle’s ethics.
19
McBride, Aimee. "Deliberation and the Norm of Participation." Thesis, Sociology and Social Policy, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/7126.
Full textAbstract:
Participation is a term that by its own nature reflects the desire to be a part of something that is greater than the individual experience. In modern societies, the desire to socialise is most often positioned within the political borders of democracy. The rise of representative democracy, beginning in the seventeenth century and exerting its political power with increasing force in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, formalised what was originally a socially-held demand for participation. In light of this tradition, citizen-participation has for many years been considered a means of connecting the elected government with the wider social community. Mechanisms such as voting have been designed to communicate the interest of the public to their representatives. In recent years, citizens‟ failure to engage with these mechanisms has generated a growing body of literature on declining levels of participation. This failure has also led to the inability of liberal democracies to legitimise their own authority.
20
Buttigieg, Claire Ruth. "Deliberation in Lyttelton: Deliberative Democratic Theory in Action: A community Group responds to Energy and Climate issues." Thesis, University of Canterbury. School of Social and Political Science, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/5322.
Full textAbstract:
The aim of this thesis is to explore the under-studied area of deliberative democratic
politics at the local level, while adding to the literature on deliberative theory itself.
Empirical research was conducted through the qualitative tools of participant observation
in Project Lyttelton’s Energy Matters Workshop and in-depth interviews with Project
Lyttelton members, workshop participants and local government representatives. A
comparative analysis was also undertaken between two locally focussed initiatives
looking at citizen engagement and democracy in relation to climate change.
The findings of this research suggest that Project Lyttelton’s Energy Matters Workshop
answers the call for a deliberative approach through its use of the key institutional
features of deliberative democratic processes. The research findings also show that local
deliberative initiatives may not be about reaching consensus or agreement in relation to a
particular issue such as climate change. Rather, they may be focused on building up a
network of citizens that discuss new ideas, build awareness, invigorate public
engagement, highlight shared interests and motivate new initiatives.
However, the research data also draws attention to compelling, and as yet unanswered
questions, about just what conditions are needed for local deliberation to affect public
policy and climate change decision-making, how deliberative practices could be
integrated within government structures themselves, how the current political framework
(and context) could act as a spur to those at the local level, and how local participation
and deliberation could have a voice in the largely international climate change arena.
This research adds to the scholarship on deliberative theory by examining what
deliberation looks like at the local level, while providing further empirical research for
deliberative theory itself.
21
Lu, Xinrui. "How far away are we from deliberative politics? : Online authoritarian deliberation on Tencent Weibo in the PRC." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för informatik och media, 2014. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-231971.
Full textAbstract:
Emerging online discussions in a Weibo (micro-blogging) platform argue for the new possibility of online deliberation in Chinese cyberspace. In order to ascertain the extent to which this platform is being used, the author has conducted a case study to measure the quality of deliberation of an online discussion of genetically modified (GM) foods in the comment section of posts written by Mr. Cui and Mr. Fang on Tencent Weibo. In order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the data, both methods of Discourse Quality Index (DQI) and interview have been used. The findings of the research indicate that the online discussion fails to meet two necessary criteria of deliberation: rational and logical statements and consensus building. However, the study results are not totally negative, since the levels of interaction, information exchange, mutual understanding and neutral expression are relatively high. According to the author, in the contemporary stage, online authoritarian deliberation faces many problems in the PRC. At micro level, first, online expression is irrational and illogical; second, it is hard to reach consensus building; third, participants are stubborn to their pre-given wills; forth, some people are indifferent to online discussions. At macro level, first, most of the online discussions have low external impact on decision-making; second, the strong government control may hinder the development of online deliberation.
22
Thakur, Dhanaraj. "Online deliberation among regional civil society groups - the case of the Caribbean." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/34812.
Full textAbstract:
Deliberative democracy has been promoted as a way improving legitimacy and political equality in policy debates. This dissertation seeks to understand how deliberation takes place within the intersection of two unique spaces: dialogue among members of regional civil society groups and communication in online fora. The motivation for this research is based on the notion that existing forms of decision-making have contributed to political inequality, a major issue in areas such as the Caribbean. Accordingly I examine the online discussions of three different civil society groups in the Caribbean.
I looked at how certain variables in these fora were related to three of the main dimensions of deliberation, the use of reasoned arguments, reciprocity and reflection. With regard to reasoned arguments I examined how diversity among members, the participation of the moderator and the topic and scope of the conversation were pertinent to a discussion in a regional and multi-national setting. For reciprocity I looked at how variables related to time and the posting structure of a conversation were relevant in an online forum. Finally I looked at the strategies that were employed by participants as part of the communication process in an online forum and how these were related to processes of reflection.
To address these questions I used a combination of content analysis and conversation analysis of email conversations and interviews with participants. One set of contributions from this dissertation is methodological through the development of a codebook and the novel application of conversation analysis to online deliberation. Also, the results are significant and can contribute to our understanding of deliberation in a context for which there has been little previous research. For example, I showed that national and occupational diversity can contribute to an increase in the proportion of reasoned arguments used in a conversation as does the presence of the moderator. However, these factors along with the scope and topic of a thread vary in their degree of influence on the use of reasoned arguments by the civil society group in question. I also showed that there are specific communication strategies that participants employ such as preference organization or speaker selection that are related to different forms of reflection evident in a conversation. Finally I observed that the posting structure of a conversation specifically the distribution of emails that participants send becomes less equal as reciprocity increases. This does not augur well for a deliberative ideal that envisions both reciprocity and equal participation.
Furthermore, when considering deliberation as a whole, the results indicate that its different parts are not always correlated with each other. None of the lists has more than one significant correlation between the three dimensions of deliberation. In fact, reciprocity and the use of reasoned arguments were never significantly correlated in any of the lists. Together these results point to another main finding of this dissertation which is deliberation as a whole is difficult to observe in practice.
Nevertheless I suggest that separately the results for each dimension can be useful from both a design perspective and for policy-makers in general. For example, encouraging the sharing of information and a more active moderator, having the opportunity to discuss regional issues could all help to promote a greater use of reasoned arguments overall. Experimenting with different ways in which group members can get to know each other might help to reduce the disparity between participation and reciprocity. Also encouraging participants to reply inline where possible, creating easier access to the message archives and having a system for collating threads and discussions online could all promote better reflection in the lists. Finally the list might benefit from having members go through an exercise of determining whether or not and in what way decision-making should be part of their discussions.
With regard to policy-makers I note that several members reported benefits for policy-makers who themselves were members of the lists. This could stem from listening and learning from the discussions of other members or actually contributing to discussions. The groups also showed the potential to collate many different policy positions around a specific problem, thus assisting policy makers in understanding issues at a regional level.
23
Ma, Hua. "Authoritarian deliberation : the case of Hong Kong." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29123.
Full textAbstract:
Hong Kong is a half-authoritarian and half-democratic metropolis whose citizens enjoy full civil liberties. Deliberation is not usually expected in an authoritarian regime; however, the Hong Kong case shows that authoritarian deliberation is possible, although limited. There are two key questions that this thesis explores. The first one is whether or not the model of authoritarian deliberation is possible. The second one is why did the semi-authoritarian Hong Kong government choose to allow full deliberative processes in some issue areas? What can we draw from the unique HK deliberative practices? By examining the emerging deliberation initiatives in Hong Kong on both the macro and micro levels, this paper figures out two mechanisms for Hong Kong deliberation, one with the Advisory Group acting as a bridge between the government and the public. It is a model that can be learnt by mainland China about how to initiate and conduct effective deliberation at the metropolitan level. This thesis argues that deliberation in a context of an existing strong civil society and civil liberties like in Hong Kong is probably irreversible. The deliberative process in Hong Kong is successful in granting legitimacy to some policy outcomes, but probably not to the regime itself. However, no deliberation in the policy-making process may cause a legitimacy crisis for the regime.
24
Phear, Nicolette. "Creating Space| Engaging Deliberation about Climate Action." Thesis, Prescott College, 2014. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=3642993.
Full textAbstract:
In the United States public discourse, climate change is often framed as a polarized and intractable issue. The purpose of this dissertation was to explore deliberation about climate action, and to evaluate whether effective responses to climate change can be facilitated through new structures and processes that enable and encourage dialogue on the subject of how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Working with sustainability leaders at the University of Montana and in the community of Missoula, Montana, the author convened three public deliberations, in which a variety of solutions to climate change were discussed. Three questions guided this study: 1) what motivated individuals to engage in deliberation about climate action; 2) how did individual engagement vary and affect the quality of the deliberation; and 3) how effective were the deliberations in building a sense of individual agency and generating collaborative action strategies to address climate change. Based on a rigorous statistical analysis of survey responses combined with qualitative data, this action research study offers a holistic exploration of the three deliberative events convened. The deliberative processes generated collaborative action strategies and increased participants' sense of agency to take action on climate change; the findings also revealed differences in the ways individuals engaged and affected the quality of the overall group deliberation. This dissertation contributes to the literature on collaborative responses and collective action on climate change, broadens understanding of deliberative processes, and provides new insight into opportunities for leading deliberation about climate action.
25
Lacewing, Michael. "The role of emotion in moral deliberation." Thesis, University of Reading, 2000. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.326185.
Full text
26
Brittman, Edward J. "Deliberation and Implementation of the Breaux Act." Thesis, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 2016. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10002404.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis traces the coastal restoration movement in Louisiana from the early identification of coastal land loss by scientists to the introduction of proactive legislation by politicians like Senator John Breaux. Serving to highlight the transcendence of Louisiana’s problem from a local issue to one of national significance, the focal point of this work is the 1990 federal Coastal Wetlands Planning, Protection, and Restoration Act or “Breaux Act.” The restoration of Louisiana’s wetlands arose from an emphasis on their economic importance purported by grassroots groups like the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, as well as state and federal politicians. Due to the atypical nature of this disaster, meaning its difference from typical disasters that are readily apparent and fast acting, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes, the movement to properly address it was rather convoluted and never quite resulted in complete success.
27
Capustin, Mark Waluchow Wilfrid J. "Framing political deliberation in circumstances of disagreement." *McMaster only, 2007.
Find full text
28
Midthjell, Sverre Bugge. "Deliberating or quarrelling? : An enquiry into theory and research methods for the relationship between political parties and deliberation." Thesis, Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet, Institutt for sosiologi og statsvitenskap, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:no:ntnu:diva-11964.
Full text
29
Cherniak, Brett. "Critiquing the Role of Deliberative Democracy in EE and ESD: The Case for Effective Participation and Pragmatic Deliberation." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2012. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-179183.
Full textAbstract:
There has been much written of the potential positive impact in Environmental Education (EE) and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). This thesis explores the reliance on deliberative democracy by the proponents of EE/ESD and whether or not they have justification for their beliefs. Specifically, participation and deliberation will be separated in order to identify any faults in these values that may prevent democracy – and therefore education – from addressing the problems of sustainable development and environmental concerns. Through a deconstruction of the relevant literature and a clarification of the lines of thought brought forth throughout the various arguments, it is shown that there is no good theoretical or empirical reason for advocating a deliberative democratic approach to EE/ESD as feverishly as some do. Instead, the case for an educational method and content based on the empirically observed characteristics of current liberal democracies will be made.
30
Pettersson, Marcus. "Medborgardialog : Ett demokratiexperiment i Örebro kommun." Thesis, Örebro University, Department of Social and Political Sciences, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-2146.
Full textAbstract:
Abstract
In the beginning of 2007 the Swedish municipality Örebro decided to have a democratic
experiment, which ought to go under the name, “Dialouge for the citizens”. The
representative elected politicians in Örebro tried to find ways to involve the people in the
process of ruling. Why they choose to try this experiment on this very delicate matter, the
closure of several schools in the municipal, is one of the questions this essay is trying to
answer.
The purpose of this essay is to find out whether the process was an attempt for the politicians
of the representative democracy to implement deliberative democracy in the structure of the
local governance.
The result of this study is that the politicians didn’t manage to reach to the citizens the way
they formerly had planned.
31
Zackrisson, Alfred, Anna Olsson, and Tomas Jonsson. "Deliberativa samtal som undervisningsform i Zambia." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Akademin för humaniora, utbildning och samhällsvetenskap, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-15729.
Full textAbstract:
Sammanfattning Denna uppsats undersöker deliberation i en zambisk kontext. Syftet är att undersöka hur zambiska lärare och elever ser på förekomsten av deliberativa samtal som undervisningsform, samt utröna om det finns några skillnader och likheter i denna syn mellan olika skolformer i Zambia. Undersökningen har genomförts på tre olika skolor i Zambia som var och en representerar de dominerande skolformerna: statlig skola, privat skola samt ideell skola, i fortsättningen kallat Community School. Vi valde att förlägga vår studie till ett land som skiljer sig från Sverige i både ekonomiskt och kulturellt avseende för att få en fördjupad förståelse och en nyanserad bild av den pedagogiska verksamheten i olika kulturer. För att besvara våra forskningsfrågor genomfördes 12 intervjuer, 2 elevintervjuer och 2 lärarintervjuer på tre olika skolor. Innehållet i intervjuerna konkretiserades genom Tomas Englunds fem kriterier för ett deliberativt samtal. Undersökningen visar på elevers och lärares olika uppfattningar om det deliberativa samtalet som undervisningsform. Resultatet visar att zambiska lärare och elever anser att diskussioner är vanligt förekommande. Diskussionerna är utformade på ett sätt där eleverna stundtals får ställa sina åsikter mot varandra, lyssna till det bättre argumentet och i viss mån nå konsensus. Eleverna känner sig för det mesta trygga att uttrycka sig, vilket lärarna arbetar för att främja. Alla elever upplever att de kan ifrågasätta lärarna, men de exempel som givits handlar främst om fakta- och stavfel. De flesta diskussionerna sker utan lärarens närvaro, något som uppmuntras av lärarna. Även dessa diskussioner är enligt eleverna lärande. Det finns skillnader mellan skolorna vad gäller deliberativa undervisningsmetoder. På Skola 2 menar lärarna att ifrågasättande är något positivt som bör uppmuntras och lärarna är mer benägna att övervaka elevdiskussioner än vad lärarna på de andra skolorna är. På Skola 1 uttrycker både elever och lärare att lärarna ska respekteras på grund av deras högre ålder, något vi anser kan hämma deliberationen. Lärarna på Skola 3 är de enda som ger uttryck för bestraffningar om de inte blir åtlydda, vilket också hämmar deliberation enligt vår uppfattning. Generellt är det Skola 2 som särskiljer sig från Skola 1 och 3, som i många avseenden liknar varandra.
32
Shannon, Brooke M. "The Value of Deliberative Democratic Practices to Civic Education." Wright State University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=wright1183659204.
Full text
33
Wilson, Maria, and Johanna Boman. "Få en röst, inte bara rösta : En litteraturstudie om hur ett deliberativt förhållingssätt kan främja skolans demokratiska uppdrag." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-166015.
Full textAbstract:
Under 2010-talet har en ökad polarisering och populism vuxit fram vilket påverkar diskussionsklimatet i samhället. Detta ger konsekvenser för den svenska skolans möjligheter att forma demokratiska medborgare. Syftet med denna litteraturstudie är att undersöka hur ett deliberativt förhållningssätt kan främja formandet av demokratiska medborgare, vilka förutsättningar som krävs och vilka möjligheter det ger för skolan. Litteraturstudien visar att en av huvudförutsättningar för ett deliberativt förhållningssätt är att alla elever ska kunna delta på jämlika grunder. Dock är detta svårt då maktstrukturer och marginalisering även påverkar skolkontexten. Därför krävs det lärare som skapar goda relationer, ett öppet klassrum och ställer rätt frågor. Ett deliberativt förhållningssätt ger möjlighet för fler att komma till tals på grund av att det belyser vikten av att flera olika perspektiv ska ta plats i samtalet. Förhållningssättet öppnar upp för att på ett säkert och strukturerat sätt lyfta kontroversiella frågor. På så sätt får eleverna praktisk erfarenhet av en demokrati som tar till vara på varje elevs unika röst.
34
Concannon, Shauna. "Taking a stance : experimenting with deliberation in dialogue." Thesis, Queen Mary, University of London, 2017. http://qmro.qmul.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/123456789/30623.
Full textAbstract:
How do people manage disagreements in conversation? Previous studies of dialogue have shown that the interactional consequences of disagreement are not straightforward. Although often interpreted as face-threatening when performed in an unmitigated manner, disagreement can also encourage novel contributions. This thesis explores how systematically altering the presentation of someone's stance influences the deliberative potential of a dialogue. A corpus analysis of ordinary conversations shows that exposed disagreement occurs rarely, but that speakers can signal a potentially adversarial position in a variety of other ways. One of the most interesting among these is the way people mark their rights to speak about something. Resources such as reported speech and prefacing incongruent content with discourse markers (e.g. 'well') can be important to the management of interpersonal factors. The idea that disagreement is problematic but also useful for deliberation is examined. Using a method that allows fine-grained manipulations of text based dialogues in real-time, agreement and disagreement fragments are inserted into a discussion dialogue. The findings show that inserting exposed disagreement violates the conventions of polite dialogue leading participants to put more effort into the production of their replies, and does not improve levels of deliberation. This raises the question of whether manipulating apparent degrees of speaker commitment might be more important for influencing the quality of deliberation. An experiment was devised which presented oppositional content with differing degrees of 'knowingness'. The findings indicate that marking stance as knowing leads to less guarded exchanges, but does not increase deliberation. Conversely, framing statements as less knowing increases the likelihood that participants consider more alternative viewpoints, thus increasing the deliberative quality of a dialogue. Potential applications include training guidelines for professionals developing tools to support considered debate. Implications for computational argumentation studies include the importance of interpersonal dynamics and stance construction for formulating polite arguments.
35
Evans, Laurel. "Deliberation time-sink : the rationality of gathering information." Thesis, Cardiff University, 2010. http://orca.cf.ac.uk/55046/.
Full textAbstract:
A key feature of rationality is the use of an optimal (or normative) strategy, i.e. the strategy that is most likely to maximize the fulfillment of one's goals. Numerous such strategies have been explored in the literature across a wide range of problems, and many researchers have argued that humans approach several problems irrationally. Recently, researchers have begun to study individual differences in rational responding to these tasks, crucially discovering that both fluid intelligence and individual thinking styles - such as the Need for Cognition (NFC) - contribute uniquely to rational performance. Fluid intelligence is proposed as one's capacity for manipulating information in a slow, serial manner, while NFC plays a role in the engagement of such deliberative thinking. Although the problems studied typically benefit from this type of thinking, I explore whether there might be a problem for which deliberative thinking is non- normative: sampling-based choice, in which the participant must gather information for two options before deciding which is better. I first demonstrate in two experiments that higher NFC is related to spending more time at this task - without any significant gain in accuracy - and this relationship is separate from fluid intelligence. In subsequent experiments, I explore the potential reasons for this relationship. I search for, but find no evidence that it is due to ability failure, and clear evidence shows that it is not due to boredom. I find some evidence that those high in NFC tend to focus more on accuracy. Finally, I find that the NFC-time relationship is partially mediated by social desirability, i.e. the tendency to try to promote a positive impression of one's self. Overall, this excessive focus on accuracy, and the mediator role of social desirability, suggest NFC is related to irrational performance on this task.
36
Walls, M. J. "State formation in Somaliland : bringing deliberation to institutionalism." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 2011. http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1302550/.
Full textAbstract:
There is and has long been great debate over the means and motivations necessary for societal organisation, and most particularly in relation to the establishment and maintenance of governance systems in the context of the nation state. One of the key fault-lines in this discourse lies in the role played by the individual against that of the collective. At the centre of the argument lies a disagreement on conceptions of justice and how these relate to acceptance by the society involved as to the legitimacy or acceptability of the state being established. This thesis aims to examine these arguments with respect to a case study which is at once both highly particular and unusually apposite for that analysis. The case is Somaliland, which is undergoing a transition from a kinship-based system that emphasises discursive democracy to the establishment of an increasingly viable system of representative democracy. That this process has occurred in the shadow of Somaliland’s southern neighbour, the erstwhile Republic of Somalia, a country of which the international diplomatic community still insists Somaliland is a part, yet one which is unable to establish a viable system of government itself, adds relevance to the analysis. One of the key periods in Somaliland’s transition began in 1990, just prior to the fall of the Siyaad Barre regime at the beginning of 1991, and 1997 when an interim constitution was adopted, ending a final period of conflict within Somaliland. While there remain small if vociferous sections of the population wedded to reunification with Somalia, the successful staging of a series of elections and the fact that renewed widespread conflict has failed to materialise attest to the evident fact that the accommodations reached between 1990 and 1997 enjoy the support of the vast majority of the population. In order to understand the 1990-97 period, though, it is also necessary to examine the complex links between Somalis and the political and social changes that have occurred over the years. This thesis therefore examines the changes wrought by shifting patterns of trade and pastoralism, and in particular those of the colonial era, and in that light examines the 1990-97 transition using a framework synthesised from the theories of the deliberative democracy of John Rawls and the Institutional Analysis of Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis. It aims both to interrogate the synthesised conceptual framework and to refine it, in the process examining the case study and attempting to gain an understanding of some of the key elements that have permitted the emergence of a viable system of state.
37
Elsey, Timothy Alan. "Deliberation and the Role of the Practical Syllogism." Kent State University / OhioLINK, 2011. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=kent1302455557.
Full text
38
Kaye, Simon. "The mythology of democracy : justification, deliberation and participation." Thesis, King's College London (University of London), 2015. http://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/the-mythology-of-democracy(f86da1d3-f106-4202-87d6-7787cb900c85).html.
Full textAbstract:
Contemporary democratic theory is marked by two politically distinctive but epistemologically similar radicalisms: Deliberative and Platonist. Deliberative democrats seek to enhance the legitimacy and value of democratic outcomes by ensuring deeper, more discursive participation so as to approximate rational consensus around the self-evident public interest or to inculcate the ideal of public reasoning among citizens. Platonist democrats, responding to widespread evidence of public ignorance and irrationality, argue that participation should be limited to those who can do so from a position of expertise. What these radical positions have in common is an implied readiness to reject the fundamental democratic principle of minimal political equality for practically all citizens. In so doing, they risk subverting the desirable consequences of the institutional norms of today’s democracies: stability, anti-experimentalism and assumed non-contestability. Democracy’s main virtue – its tendency toward stability and resistance to revolution – is contingent upon the confidence that is placed in it by its citizens, which itself may be contingent upon the universal franchise. This thesis argues that theories of democracy are best understood in terms of their underlying presuppositions as to the scope – and potential scope – of human knowledge. It offers a new justification of democracy, suggesting specific consequentialist grounds while critiquing instrumental and deontic approaches to the problem. The thesis then turns to a consideration of the evidence for widespread public ignorance, and argues that such evidence cannot form a sound basis for Platonist, epistocratic arguments against the universal franchise. Deliberative democracy is similarly problematic, founded upon either the unattainable ideal of political consensus, or the badly-understood concept of ‘public reason’. Formal, demotic deliberation is intrinsically threatening to the democratic principle of political anonymity, and therefore, due to a host of well-documented social-psychological effects, to the universal franchise as well.
39
Granstaff, Bill. "Congressional deliberation and troop deployment : the regime's conversation /." Full-text version available from OU Domain via ProQuest Digital Dissertations, 1996.
Find full text
40
Spiess, Irmgard. "Should Moral Case Deliberation Be Part of Clinical Practice? : A Review of Certain Assumptions within the Concept of Moral Case Deliberation." Thesis, Linköpings universitet, Centrum för tillämpad etik, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-69430.
Full textAbstract:
Healthcare professions are known to be inherently moral. They confront on a daily basis essential ethical problems. However, my experience as a nurse shows a different reality. In practice healthcare professionals often have difficulty to even identify the ethical problem before attempting to resolve the situation. In a plethora of literature moral case deliberation (MCD) is discussed as method to address these limitations of healthcare professionals. In general MCD can be defined as a discussion with the different parties involved about the ethical issues of a real case in clinical practice. In order to achieve a more comprehensive understanding of MCD I identified MCD's main features and reviewed two methods (Clinical pragmatism and the Hermeneutic method) as examples. This review unfolded certain assumed normative ideas more or less common in many models of MCD. However it is unclear how to understand these normative ideas and as to whether they should indeed guide MCD. Throughout the thesis I concentrate on some of these assumptions. I focused on the three, which I considered the most relevant for the implementation of MCD into clinical practice: 1) the involvement of everyone concerned the case, 2) consensus as an ideal within MCD and 3) MCD improves decision making. The aim of the thesis was to reflect on how these assumptions could be reasonably understood and to outline remaining ambiguities and points for critique in their application within MCD. Hence I am not arguing whether MCD should be part of clinical practice or not, I am critically reviewing the process of MCD within clinical practice. Finally, in the thesis it is illustrated that for each assumption various plausible explanations are possible, which all might have a role in practice. The usefulness of MCD might depend on what relevance these explanations are given in practice.
41
Moscrop, David. "The psychology of democratic deliberation : from practice to system." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/60965.
Full textAbstract:
Accounts of democratic deliberation assume and require citizens who are capable of rational and autonomous cognition. Such individuals are expected to be able to gather, process, and communicate information in such a way that allows them to accurately account for their preferences, including providing reasons for those preferences. The epistemic defense of deliberative democracy suggests that this is possible and that citizens who deliberate can generate good judgments and decisions. In this dissertation, I bring findings from social and political psychology to bear on the question of whether citizens can make good judgments and decisions through democratic deliberation. Data collected over the last five decades casts some doubts over whether they can. However, as I argue, there is good reason to believe that deliberation, despite these challenges, is often superior to alternative approaches to decision making and that, moreover, there are individual practice and institutional design responses that can mitigate the deleterious effects of phenomena that bring about cognitive distortion, bias, and error when citizens deliberate. In the first section of this dissertation, I argue that the epistemic defense of deliberation—including the need for rational, autonomous citizens—is challenged by findings from social and political psychology, but that democratic deliberation remains a possible and superior form of public judgment and decision making. In the second section, I use institutional theory, deliberative systems literature, and findings from psychology to discuss ways of thinking about autonomy and deliberation, and I develop approaches to limiting or overcoming the challenges mentioned in section one. These approaches are rooted in both broader institutional design and deliberative system design and in specific deliberative practices.Arts, Faculty of
Political Science, Department of
Graduate
42
Hagen, Gregory R. "Legal deliberation : a study in the philosophy of law." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 1990. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/29727.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines deliberation in legal proceedings. Legal deliberation is conceived of as the procedures by which a judge, jury, or other rational deliberating agents arrive at a verdict. Legal deliberation involves deliberation about laws and about facts. This thesis is concerned chiefly with deliberation about facts and how value considerations impinge on deliberation about facts. In legal proceedings there are a number of principles that are generally accepted, although their application varies according to whether the procedure is criminal, civil, administrative or other. These principles include: an accused must be proved to have committed an act according to a given standard; a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty; a proposition may be presumed by making an inference from a basic proposition which has been proved; only relevant evidence may be admitted; only reliable evidence is accepted; evidence may be accepted on the basis of judicial notice; and unreliable evidence may be admitted if corroborated. Some less familiar principles are that proved propositions are consistent; all the elements of a case need to be proved in order for the case to be proved; a proposition at issue is not proved unless it is based upon complete evidence; and that the degree of persuasion that a deliberator has towards a proposition at issue be equal to the objective probability of that proposition.
Although these principles are generally accepted the intepretation of these principles is unsettled. This thesis attempts to give an interpretation of these principles which justifies them. All interpretations have in common, I hold, that a rational agent has principles for modifying his deliberative state given new evidence. The deliberative state of an agent consists of a set of elements < B, D, S, K, ⁺> where B is the agent's degree of belief over a set of propositions S; K is a subset of S — the full or accepted beliefs; D is the agent's degree of desirability over propositions in S; ⁺ is a dynamical principle of deliberation which determines how values for B(S), and D(S) change over time. The desires of the agent are taken to be a reflection of the values inherent in legal principles.
A traditional principle is that in order to convict someone it must be proved that the accused committed the alleged act. There is little agreement, however, about what is involved in proving that a person has done something. There are two main theories which are used in law. One theory, the Austinian theory, takes an action to be a bodily movement that is voluntary. A second, wider view is that an action includes the bodily movement, consequences, relevant circumstances and voluntariness, and perhaps other elements, such as omissions, and things that happen to one, but not a mental event. I argue that an action is a part of a sequence of causally related events. It is that part of the sequence with the properties that are represented to the agent in his causally efficacious mental state.
The interpretation of "prove" in the last cited principle is also unsettled. All views hold that, in some sense, a proved proposition be sufficiently probable. There are five views of probability that I canvass: the logical view, the subjective view, the relative frequency view, the chance view and the epistemic view. I argue that the epistemic view is particularly suited to legal reasoning. On this view probability is conceived as a mind independent logical relation between evidence admitted and the conclusion reached on the basis of that evidence. Probability also reflects the underlying chance of single events and so applies to individual actions.
The traditional practices have been interpreted as the dynamics of deliberative states. There are two plausible models of these dynamics: Bayesian and non-Bayesian. On Bayesian theories all changes of belief are by Bayes' theorem or generalizations thereof. On a non-Bayesian view beliefs are changed by accepting new beliefs, conjoining them with the old beliefs, and modifying the old beliefs on the basis of the new ones. As an intepretation of legal deliberation the Bayesian view has a number of disadvantages. Among other difficulties I survey, on the Bayesian view one can not consider a case proved if all the elements of a case are proved, and one cannot regard a proved proposition at issue as true. Hence I reject the Bayesian theory.
The principle that a person is proved to have committed an act if it is sufficiently probable that he committed such an act gives rise to a difficulty. Ultimately the problem amounts to how a theory of deliberation can meet three principles of legal reasoning: the deliberating agent's beliefs are consistent, the agent believes a proposition A if the probability of A is sufficiently high, and if the agent believes A and believes B then he believes (A & B). I show how this problem is resolved by requiring probability to be resilient.
A person is proved to have committed an act if the probability of having committed that act reaches an appropriate standard of proof. But what is the standard that is at issue here? If the judge is a utilitarian, for instance his desire function must meet the constraint that it equals the average desires of all other agents. In the final chapter I argue that a utilitarian rationale for standards of proof violates a person's right not to be convicted if innocent. This is due to the fact that a person can be convicted by a utilitarian deliberator even though it is more probable than not that he did not commit the alleged offence.Arts, Faculty of
Philosophy, Department of
Graduate
43
Simina, Marin. "Enterprise-directed reasoning : opportunism and deliberation in creative reasoning." Diss., Georgia Institute of Technology, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/9149.
Full text
44
Seidman, Jeffrey Sarbey. "Reasonable bounds : concerns and the structure of practical deliberation." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2002. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.273329.
Full text
45
Hill, Sarah Jane. "Performing politics : representation and deliberation in the public sphere." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/5502.
Full textAbstract:
The metaphor of politics-as-performance is commonly found in the political vernacular, from political ‘actors’ on the world ‘stage’ to the phenomenon of actors-turned-politicians. This interdisciplinary thesis comprises an extended exploration of the metaphor of politics-as-performance to generate a thick description of how political actors are represented in the visible public sphere. Performance theory has a strong heritage in other disciplines within social science, notably sociology (Goffman) and social anthropology (Turner), but has had more limited application in political science. Taking this limitation as a starting point, the thesis will argue that the metaphor of politics-as-performance is more than a banal turn of phrase. It can be a powerful analytical and theoretical tool in exploring the role, form and content of political information in a deliberative democracy. The thesis sets up and draws upon four UK-based case studies: the 2007 Blair-Brown premiership handover; the Scottish National Party’s 2007 election campaign; the Faslane 365 nuclear blockade in 2006-2007; and the London ‘7/7’ terrorist attack in 2005. These cases generate a thick description of the metaphor by combining ethnographic participant-observation and document analysis with the analytical tools and concepts of performance analysis such as staging, scripting and body work analysis. The analysis of the empirical research highlights the complexity of the practice of political representation in an increasingly mediatised public sphere, as well as providing an experiential account of lived deliberation. In the case of the Blair-Brown handover, the thesis shows how the scripted characterisation and iterative rituals of national identity reinforce each political actor’s representative authority. This is contrasted with the more playful, ludic performance of the Scottish National Party’s election campaign based on the ‘presence’ of key actors. The thesis also shows how unconventional political actors used more visceral and embodied performance techniques to gain visibility in the public sphere. The Faslane protestors, as well as incorporating devices such as humour and music into their performance, focus on transformations of their performing bodies and use themselves as representations of resistance. This theme of representing resistance is developed in the London terror attack case where the performance enforces violent transformations not only of the political actors’ bodies and symbolically-resonant spaces but of the audience as well. The empirical cases thus provide a richly textured account of the techniques that both conventional and unconventional political actors use to insert themselves into the public sphere. In conclusion, the thesis offers a descriptive construction of the metaphor of politics-as-performance. This demonstrates its applicability to the political sphere and highlights the performative aspects of deliberation.
46
Schönlau, Justus. "The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights : legitimation through deliberation." Thesis, University of Reading, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.252238.
Full text
47
Blaine, Wolfgang Joseph. "A philosophico-literary analysis of deliberation in Greek tragedy." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.394205.
Full text
48
BACCHETTA, SILVIA. "COMPLIANCE AND CLIMATE CHANGE. THE MOTIVATING POWER OF DELIBERATION." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/828287.
Full textAbstract:
This dissertation addresses the problem of individuals’ noncompliance with climate change-related norms and behaviours. Starting from the consideration that noncompliance regarding environmental matters is too widespread to dismiss and that individuals’ compliance ought to be stable in order to effectively address climate change, this work asks how individuals should be motivated to comply with climate change norms over time. I will argue that it is possible to distinguish between individuals’ pertinent and non-pertinent reasons for compliance. This distinction plays on the correlation established between an individual’s motivation and the policy’s rationale. When the individual’s motivation and the policy’s rationale converge, then there are pertinent reasons for compliance. If instead, they diverge, there are non-pertinent reasons for compliance. Therefore, pertinent reasons derive from the coexistence of (a) aptly devised policies and (b) individuals’ environmental concern motivating them to act. The hypothesis advanced is that only pertinent reasons can ensure stable compliance.
To prompt stable compliance, I propose an argument which develops into two phases. The first phase focuses on proving that pertinent reasons are more likely to sustain stable compliance than non-pertinent ones. Assuming that individuals are either equipped with an environmental concern or not, I will split them into two groups, concerned and unconcerned individuals. I will play on the possible political means that can be used to elicit reasons for compliance in both concerned and unconcerned people. For concerned individuals, I will argue that efficacy-driven policies would have a twofold role in bridging a cognitive gap (by showing individuals how to act upon their concern practically) and motivating them to comply with climate-related policies. Considering that there would be a convergence between the policy rationale and individuals’ environmental concern, I will conclude that concerned individuals would likely have pertinent reasons for compliance. By contrast, for unconcerned individuals, I will argue that to motivate them to comply, the political authority should play on their self-interest, by using incentives and sanctions as leverage to prompt unconcerned individuals’ compliance. I will conclude that unconcerned individuals would likely have non-pertinent reasons for compliance, as the policy rationale and the individuals’ motivation diverge.
Once established that concerned individuals would have pertinent reasons and that unconcerned people would instead have non-pertinent reasons to comply, I will focus on stable compliance. I will assess if pertinent and/or non-pertinent reasons could sustain compliance over time. To do so, I develop a counter-reasoning envisaging what might happen if the political authority would withdraw the policies addressing climate change. From this argument, it will emerge that individuals motivated by non-pertinent reasons, would likely stop to comply once that the incentives are removed. By contrast, individuals motivated by pertinent reasons would likely maintain their compliance because of their environmental concern, even if the effective policies are no longer at work, thus proving my initial hypothesis that pertinent reason can fulfil the stability requirement.
However, this conclusion will highlight that the crucial element for having stable compliance does not lie specifically into having pertinent reasons. Instead, it derives from the fact that pertinent reasons can exist only under the condition of having an environmental concern. Therefore, in the second phase of my argument, I will investigate if it is possible to raise in unconcerned individuals an environmental concern, so as to make it more likely for them to develop pertinent reasons. To do this, I will drop the assumption that considered having an environmental concern in one’s motivational set as a given fact, and I will argue that it is possible to raise such a concern in unconcerned individuals. Through deliberation, it is indeed possible to induce reflection on unconcerned individuals' interests, values, and opinions to raise in them a concern about environmental matters. I will further discern unconcerned individuals into more specific ‘ideal-types’ representing the main contrarian stances regarding climate change – tackling both epistemic and normative disagreements. I will argue that for most contrarian stances, it is indeed possible to raise an environmental concern.
49
Dillard, Kara Noelle. "Assessing the problem of gender inequality in deliberative democracy." Diss., Kansas State University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/12005.
Full textAbstract:
Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work
Robert K. Schaeffer
In deliberative democracy, attempts to reconcile questions of gender and civil society are deadlocked over fundamental assumptions concerning the role of deliberation and the possibility that exclusion and inequality are inherent in democracy. Normative theories of deliberation - encouraging free, equal and impartial participation by citizens are fueled by the power of reason. Reason giving is associated with dominant groups – namely white, middle-class men; passionate, emotive and particularized speech is associated with politically disadvantaged groups such as women, minorities and poor. Limited empirical findings indicate rational models of deliberation do not affirm theorized inequalities. In this case, female participants neither experience unequal access or treatment within deliberation. This dissertation seeks to provide a framework for resolving the debate posed by difference democrats over whether deliberative democracy remedies the problem of inequality by examining fourteen National Issues Forums public deliberations. One set of deliberations feature an equal mix of male and female participants, another set with more male than female and a third with more female than male participants. I examine the types of talk women and men use in deliberations and whether affective claims negatively affect deliberation. Ultimately, I find that inequality based on gender exists in most of the deliberative forums I surveyed. I argue that the type of inequality plaguing deliberative democracy exists a priori – before participants enter the forums – and then manifests itself inside the forum as well. The normative structure of deliberation that is supposed to screen or bracket out inequality and the strong influences of the economic and political elites just does not happen to the degree deliberative democracy needs in order to continue the claim that it is net beneficial over the status quo.
50
Dantas, José Carlos de Castro. "O recurso político da democracia deliberativa." Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, 2017. http://www.repositorio.jesuita.org.br/handle/UNISINOS/6668.
Full textAbstract:
Submitted by JOSIANE SANTOS DE OLIVEIRA (josianeso) on 2017-10-04T14:02:31Z
No. of bitstreams: 1
José Carlos de Castro Dantas_.pdf: 1311441 bytes, checksum: a765d1fddb4b6e12d592013a80b9106e (MD5)Made available in DSpace on 2017-10-04T14:02:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 José Carlos de Castro Dantas_.pdf: 1311441 bytes, checksum: a765d1fddb4b6e12d592013a80b9106e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-09
UEMA – Universidade Estadual do Maranhão
A tese básica dessa pesquisa toma a democracia deliberativa pública como paradigma teórico e como recurso político relevante para as democracias moderno-contemporâneas plurais e complexas. É fato histórico que, na heterogênica construção da democracia ocidental estabelecida como regime político mais apropriado, esse modelo deliberativo pode constituir-se atualmente em notável proposição de ethos e práxis democrática e, consequentemente, como objeto de intensos debates. Seus defensores advogam, comumente, que aquilo que é considerado do interesse comum seja resultado dos processos de deliberação coletiva, racional e equitativa entre indivíduos livres e iguais. Além disso, a democracia deliberativa é uma concepção de governo democrático que prioriza a discussão racional na vida política. Princípios associados do liberalismo rawlsiano, tais como o da preservação das liberdades subjetivas, da pluralidade e da razão pública, e do republicanismo pettitiano da liberdade como não dominação positiva fundamentando a democracia, são contributos relevantes considerados à luz racionalidade e dos princípios discursivos habermasianos os quais fundamentam a concepção deliberativo-procedimental no âmbito correlacional do direito e da política. Nesse contexto, o orçamento participativo de Porto Alegre, calcado no histórico associativismo local e na vontade política da Administração Popular entre 1990 e 1996 cujos procedimentos metodológico-discursivos estabeleceram que cidadãos livres e iguais habilitam-se, de cooperações institucionais, a debates, avaliações e decisões em torno dos interesses públicos, foi tomado nessa pesquisa como modelo exemplar de possibilidade deliberação democrática pública.
The basic thesis of this research takes public deliberative democracy as a theoretical paradigm and as a relevant political resource for pluralistic and complex modern contemporary democracies. It is a historical fact that, in the heterogeneous construction of Western democracy established as the most appropriate political regime, this deliberative model can now constitute a remarkable proposition of ethos and democratic praxis and, consequently, as the object of intense debates. Its defenders commonly advocate that aspects considered of common interest have to be a result of processes of rational, equitative and collective deliberation between free and equal individuals. Moreover, deliberative democracy is a conception of democratic government that prioritizes rational discussions in political life. In the Habermasian theory, in particular, contributions such as the Rawlsian liberalism, concerning preservation of subjective freedoms and public reason, and the Pettitian republicanism, related to freedom as positive non-domination, are considered within the context of rationality and discoursive principles, which ground the deliberative-procedural conception on the correlacional scope of law and politics. The context of the Porto Alegre participatory budgeting, based in the historical and local associativism and in the political will of the Popular Administration, whose metodological-discoursive procedures established that free and equal citizens qualify themselves, within the context of institutional cooperations, to debates, evaluations and decisions of public interests, was taken in this research as an exemplary model of possibility of public democratic deliberation.