Rawls and deliberative democracy

Saward, Michael (2002). Rawls and deliberative democracy. In: Passerin D'Entreves, Maurizio ed. Democracy as Public Deliberation: New Perspectives. Perspectives on Democratization. Manchester, UK, and New York, US: Manchester University Press, pp. 112–130.

Abstract

This chapter offers arguments to support the following conjectures: (1) despite claims by Rawls and some commentators, Rawls is not and cannot be a deliberative democrat; the evidence for this can be gleaned by focussing on various interpretations of the structure of Rawls’ arguments in A Theory of Justice (1972) and Political Liberalism (1993) respectively; and (2) if we ask more directly how the ideal dialogue of the original position might be approximated in real-world conditions, we can reach suggestive conclusions about institutions and deliberative democracy radically different from those reached by Rawls himself.

Viewing alternatives

Item Actions

Export

You can export this page using these formats