Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform

By James S. Fishkin

Book Overview

This book proposes a new kind of democracy for the modern era, one that not only gives citizens more power but also allows them more opportunities to exercise this power thoughtfully. James S. Fishkin here suggests an innovative solution to the problem of inadequate deliberation, in particular within our presidential nomination system. His reform involves a well-publicized national caucus in which a representative sample of American citizens would interact directly with presidential contenders in order to reflect and vote on the issues and candidates. In adapting democracy to the large scale nation state, says Fishkin, Americans have previously had two choices. They could participate directly through primaries and referenda or they could depend on elite groups-such as party conventions and legislatures-to represent them. The first choice offers political equality but little chance for deliberation; the second offers the participants an opportunity to deliberate but provides less political equality for the electorate. The national caucus that Fishkin proposes-an example of what he calls a "deliberative opinion poll"-combines deliberation with political equality and reveals what the public would think if it had better conditions and information with which to explore and define the issues with the candidates. Arguing persuasively for the usefulness of deliberative opinion polls, Fishkin places them within the history of democratic theory and practice, exploring models of democracy ranging form ancient Athens and the debates of the American founders to contemporary transitions toward democracy in Eastern Europe.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0300051638
• ISBN13: 9780300051636
• Release Date: September 1993
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Read this book for its critique, not the proposal.

This slim book is better than the synopsis given above suggests. While the proposal referenced in the synopsis is, granted, part of the book, the critique of majoritarian-direct democracy is what's worth chewing on here. Fishkin is not impressed by the power of the vote when voters haven't THOUGHT WITH ONE ANOTHER about the power they are exercising. This is the "deliberation" in his title. Ballot initiatives, electronic voting, voting "from the convenience of your recliner with the click of a button," opinion polling, etc. all tend toward thoughtless spewage (think of the Jerry Springer Show) without deliberation. This is a problem worth working on, and he takes one crack at it with his proposal.