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Fiduciary Law's Lessons For Deliberative Democracy, David L. Ponet, Ethan J. Leib
Fiduciary Law's Lessons For Deliberative Democracy, David L. Ponet, Ethan J. Leib
Faculty Scholarship
One of the ascendant understandings of democracy in contemporary political theory is that democratic societies ought to be deliberative The precise requirements for "deliberative democracy" are contested both as a matter of normative theory and institutional design; but most deliberative democrats see deliberation as essential to the legitimation of decision-making within the polity. Yet deliberative democrats have expended most of their efforts mapping what deliberation should look like at two different levels of decision-making: the deliberation among citizens themselves in exercises of direct and participatory democracy - and the deliberation among legislators or other official actors within the organs of …
Can Direct Democracy Be Made Deliberative?, Ethan J. Leib
Can Direct Democracy Be Made Deliberative?, Ethan J. Leib
Faculty Scholarship
Every election cycle a great number of citizens take to the polls to vote on public policy matters directly. Direct democracy has problems. And an account of deliberative democracy—far from being a source to critique direct democracy—might provide a solution. I have three goals here. First, I hope to identify some problems with the mechanisms of direct democracy that most states and many cities throughout the country employ: the initiative and the referendum. Next, I will offer a potential solution to these institutional problems using aspects of the theory of deliberative democracy, a theory often marshaled to undermine direct democracy. …