Deliberative Democracy and the Public Sphere

2019 ◽  
pp. 75-96
Author(s):  
John Budarick
Author(s):  
Jarice Hanson ◽  
Alina Hogea

The Internet has often been heralded as a tool for e-governance and public action because of its ubiquity, accessibility, and the ability for users to participate in online expressions of opinion. In this chapter we discuss the potential for the Internet to function as a public space for facilitating civic engagement. While we draw from the seminal work of Jurgen Habermas to identify the preconditions for the functioning of a “public sphere,” we address four distinctly different approaches to the discussion of the Internet’s role as an effective tool for deliberative democracy by highlighting the contributions of scholars and practitioners who engaged in a dialog on the topic at a symposium held at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2010.


2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (28) ◽  
pp. 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Jacky

<p>The study of the relationship between the Internet and democracy has produced two main debates. Some studies have said that the Internet has significantly contributed to democracy while others disagree. This study challenged the thesis of Habermas (2006) about the relationship between the Internet and Deliberative Democracy. This study was built on the following propositions: that the Internet causes bloggers to become parasitic, fragmented, and isolated; that it is effective in breaking down authoritarian regimes to create an egalitarian relationship, but it fails as a deliberative medium. This study used the concept of the public sphere and Habermas’ Deliberative Democracy (2006). It also explored the use of 2.0 qualitative methods with a hacking analysis perspective. Moreover, it gained data from the Internet by using the latest version of 2.0 Web and a virtual community. It focused on both discursive and non-discursive construction. The results of this study support only one of Habermas’ three propositions: that the Internet creates egalitarianism. Thus, this study rejects Habermas’ thesis apart from this one proposition. Furthermore, this study recommends that further research be done using the same propositions but on Twitter instead of the Internet.</p>


Author(s):  
Jonas Jakobsen ◽  
Kjersti Fjørtoft

The paper discusses Rawls’ and Habermas’ theories of deliberative democracy, focusing on the question of religious reasons in political discourse. Whereas Rawls as well as Habermas defend a fully inclusivist position on the use of religious reasons in the ‘background culture’ (Rawls) or ‘informal public sphere’ (Habermas), we defend a moderately inclusivist position. Moderate inclusivism welcomes religiously inspired contributions to public debate, but it also makes normative demands on public argumentation beyond the ‘public forum’ (Rawls) or ‘formal public sphere’ (Habermas). In particular, moderate inclusivism implies what we call a ‘conversational translation proviso’ according to which citizens have a duty to supplement religious with proper political arguments if – but only if – they are asked to do so by their co-discussants. This position, we argue, is more in line with the deeper intuitions behind Rawls’ political liberalism and Habermas’ deliberative model than is the fully inclusivist alternative. Keywords: conversational translation proviso, deliberative democracy, ethics of citizenship, Habermas, moderate inclusivism, public reason, Rawls


Res Publica ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 251-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elsa González ◽  
José Felix Lozano ◽  
Pedro Jesús Pérez

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Estevão Bosco

Neste artigo, elaboro uma reconstrução da trajetória do conceito de esfera pública na obra de Habermas. Cinco livros serão aqui privilegiados, as vinculações internas entre eles e com o conceito de esfera pública. São eles: Mudança estrutural da esfera pública (1978a [orig. 1962]); Problemas de legitimação no capitalismo tardio (1978b [orig. 1973]); Teoria do agir comunicativo (1987 [orig. 1981]); Facticidade e validade (2003, 2010 [orig. 1992]); e A inclusão do outro (2007 [orig. 1996]). O conceito de esfera pública é tido como elo entre cada um desses livros e argumento haver uma coerência interna entre a tese histórico-sociológica da mudança estrutural da esfera pública, o diagnóstico da crise de legitimação elaborado no início dos anos 1970, a tese da colonização sistêmica do mundo da vida, a tensão entre facticidade e validade no direito democrático e os desafios colocados para a democracia pela globalização. Tal coerência se caracteriza por uma mudança de orientação no diagnóstico da associação histórica entre capitalismo e democracia: em 1962 e 1973, Habermas enfatiza os problemas de integração social e de legitimação decorrentes da evolução do capitalismo, enquanto a partir dos anos 1980, volta-se para a superação dos limites que tal evolução impõe para a realização da democracia.Palavras-Chave: Habermas, Jürgen; esfera pública; ação comunicativa; democracia deliberativa.In this article, I reconstruct the course of Jürgen Habermas’ concept of public sphere. My reconstruction focuses roughly, though not exclusively, on five books and outlines internal connections among them and with the concept of public sphere. These books are the following: “The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere” (1962); “Legitimation Crisis” (1973); “Theory of Communicative Action” (1981); “Facts and Norms” (1992); and “The Inclusion of the Other” (1996). The public sphere concept is taken as a linkage between each of these books. My primary argument is that there is an internal coherence between the sociological-historical thesis of the structural transformation of the public sphere, the early 1970s diagnostic of the legitimation crisis, the colonization of the lifeworld thesis, the tension between facts and norms in democratic society, and the challenges posed to democracy by globalization. Such coherence is characterized by a change of orientation in the addressing of the historical connection between capitalism and democracy: in 1962 and 1973 Habermas emphasizes the problems of social integration and of legitimation stemming from the evolution of capitalism, while from the 1980s onwards, he turns his attention to ways of overcoming the limits which such evolution poses to the realization of democracy.Keywords: Habermas, Jürgen; Public Sphere; Communicative Action; Deliberative Democracy.


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