Deliberative Democracy and Emancipatory Learning in Action:
Using Cooperative Inquiry for Teaching Political Science
by Reilly Hirst
As educators we are politicians; we engage in politics when we educate. And if
we dream about dem ocracy, let us fight, day and night, for a school in which
we talk to and with the learners so that, hearing them , we can be heard by
them as well. (Freire, 2000, p. 68)
I. Introduction
Democratic theory, especially deliberative democracy, has been a topic of
serious consideration in recent days. In fact, current foreign policy in the United
States centers upon a call to democratic governance for the entire world.
Current definitions of democracy seem to center on having a system of
neoliberal, federalist structure like the USA. (Grant & Keohane, 2004) As
increased cries about accountability, participation, and transparency predominate
not only international institutions, but national politics (Grant & Keohane, 2004;
Woods, 2002) governance theory, never a purely abstract matter, becomes
increasingly important.
The political science classroom, especially at the level of undergraduate
education, often serves as the first introduction to civic goals, diversity in a
political context, and a critical analysis of today’s world events that expands the
horizons of possibility beyond current norms and the assumptions and reporting
of the media. We in the classroom are challenged increasingly to explain that not
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Convention