Deliberative systems theorists have not explained what a deliberative system is. There are two problems here for deliberative systems theory: an empirical problem of boundaries (how to delineate the content of a deliberative system) and a normative problem of evaluation (how to evaluate the deliberation within a deliberative system). We argue that an adequate response to these problems requires a clear ontology. The existing literature suggests two coherent but mutually exclusive ontologies. A functionalist ontology postulates self-sustaining deliberative systems with their own functional goals and logics independent of human intentionality. In contrast, an interpretive ontology conceives of deliberative systems as the products of the beliefs and actions of the actors in the relevant practices—deliberative systems derive from human intentionality. We conclude by showing how these conflicting ontologies lead to different empirical and normative agendas.
AlmeidaDRCunhaES (2016)
Brazilian social assistance policy: An empirical test of the concept of deliberative systems. Critical Policy Studies10(3): 284–304.
2.
BächtigerAParkinsonJ (2019) Mapping and Measuring Deliberation: Towards a New Deliberative Quality.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
3.
BarnesB (1995) The Elements of Social Theory.
Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
4.
BenhabibS (1994)
Deliberative rationality and models of democratic legitimacy. Constellations1(1): 26–52.
5.
BevirMAnsariN (2012) Should deliberative democracy eschew modernist social science?, 22-24 March. Paper presented at the Western Political Science Association meeting,
Seattle,
Washington, USA.
6.
BevirMBlakelyJ (2018) Interpretive Social Science: An Anti-naturalist Approach.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
7.
BohmanJ (2012) Representation in the deliberative system. In: ParkinsonJMansbridgeJ (eds) Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale.
University Park, PA:
Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 72–94.
8.
BoswellJCorbettJ (2017)
Why and how to compare deliberative systems. European Journal of Political Research56: 801–819.
ChambersS (2012) Deliberation and mass democracy. In: Parkinson J and Mansbridge J (eds) Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 52–71.
11.
CinalliM and O’Flynn I (2014)
Public deliberation, network analysis and the political integration of Muslims in Britain. The British Journal of Politics and International Relations16: 428–451.
12.
ClarkS (2005)
Human intentionality in the functionalist theory of social change: The role of French provincial intendants in state-society differentiation. European Journal of Sociology46(2): 213–262.
13.
CohenJ (2007) Deliberative democracy. In: Rosenberg SW (ed.) Deliberation, Participation and Democracy: Can the People Govern? Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 219–236.
14.
DryzekJS (2016)
Symposium commentary: Reflections on the theory of deliberative systems. Critical Policy Studies10(2): 209–215.
15.
DryzekJS (2017)
The forum, the system, and the polity: Three varieties of democratic theory. Political Theory45(5): 610–636.
16.
DryzekJSListC (2003)
Social choice theory and deliberative democracy: A reconciliation. British Journal of Political Science33(1): 1–28.
17.
ErcanSA (2014) Same problem, different solutions: The case of ‘honour killing’ in Germany and Britain. In: GillAKStrangeCRobertsK (eds) ‘Honour’ Killing & Violence: Theory, Policy & Practice.
Houndmills:
Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 177–198.
18.
ErcanSAHendriksCMBoswellJ (2017)
Studying public deliberation after the systemic turn: The crucial role for interpretive research. Policy & Politics45(2): 195–212.
19.
FloridiaA (2017) From Participation to Deliberation: A Critical Genealogy of Deliberative Democracy. Translated by S De Sanctis. Colchester: ECPR Press.
20.
GadamerHG (2004) Truth and Method.
London:
Continuum International Publishing Group.
21.
GoodinRE (1986) Laundering preferences. In: ElsterJHyllandA (eds) Foundations of Social Choice Theory.
Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, pp. 75–102.
GutmannAThompsonD (2004) Why Deliberative Democracy? Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
24.
HabermasJ (2006)
Political communication in media society: Does democracy still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research. Communication Theory16: 411–426.
25.
HendriksCM (2016)
Coupling citizens and elites in deliberative systems: The role of institutional design. European Journal of Political Research55: 43–60.
26.
HumphreyMStearsM (2006)
Animal rights protest and the challenge to deliberative democracy. Economy and Society35(3): 400–422.
27.
LandemoreH (2012) Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many.
Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press.
28.
LuhmannN (1995) Social Systems. Translated by J Bednarz and D Baecker. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
29.
LuhmannN (2013) Introduction to Systems Theory. Translated by P Gilgen and edited by D Baecker. Cambridge: Polity Press.
30.
MansbridgeJ (1999) Everyday talk in the deliberative system. In: Macedo S (ed.) Deliberative Politics: Essays on Democracy and Disagreement. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 211–239.
31.
MansbridgeJBohmanJChambersS, et al. (2012) A systematic approach to deliberative democracy. In: Parkinson J and Mansbridge J (eds) Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, pp. 1–26.
32.
NebloMWhiteA (2018) Politics in translation: Communication between sites of the deliberative system. In: Bächtiger A, Dryzek JS, Mansbridge J et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 447–460.
33.
OwenDSmithG (2015)
Survey article: Deliberation, democracy, and the systemic turn.The Journal of Political Philosophy23(2): 213–234.
34.
ParkinsonJ (2018) Deliberative systems. In: Bächtiger A, Dryzek JS, Mansbridge J et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 432–446.
35.
ParsonsT (1956) The American family: Its relations to personality and to the social structure. In: Parsons T and Bales RF (eds) Family, Socialization, and Interaction Process. London: Routledge, pp. 3–34.
36.
ParsonsT (1977) Social Systems and the Evolution of Action Theory.
New York:
Free Press.
37.
SchwinnT (1998)
False connections: Systems and action theories in neofunctionalism and in Jürgen Habermas. Sociological Theory16(1): 75–95.
38.
SearleJ (1995) The Construction of Social Reality.
New York:
Free Press.
39.
SmithW (2016)
The boundaries of a deliberative system: The case of disruptive protest. Critical Policy Studies10(2): 152–170.
40.
TaylorC (1989) Cross-purposes: The liberal-communitarian debate. In: RosenblumNL (ed.) Liberalism and the Moral Life.
Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press, pp. 159–182.
41.
UrbinatiN (2014) Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth, and the People.
Cambridge, MA:
Harvard University Press.
42.
WittgensteinL (1969) On Certainty. Translated by D Paul and GEM Anscombe.
Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
43.
WittgensteinL (2009) Philosophical Investigations. Translated by GEM Anscombe, PMS Hacker and J Schulte. Oxford:
Blackwell Publishing.
44.
YoungIM (2001)
Activist challenges to deliberative democracy. Political Theory29(5): 670–690.
