Review article: Deliberative democracy and beyond; reason, agonism and rhetoric

Abstract

This article surveys some of the main recent debates concerning deliberative democracy. It first sets out to discuss the main elements of a generic structure of deliberative democratic theories, and then lists and assesses some of the most promising critiques to the current versions of public deliberation. Alternative understandings of democratic politics, grounded on agonism or rhetorical persuasion, may provide a renewed perspective on the core political nature of contemporary democracy.