Deliberative Democracy and Emancipatory Learning in Action
Page 2
February 13, 2006
only do forms of governance vary but, even within the conception of democracy,
there are, in fact, varying forms. In reality, there are many different conceptions
of democratic governance, so many that Archon Fung has created groupings of
these democratic governances in order to be able to try to imagine or utilize an
equilibrium to measure the effectiveness of varying forms one against another.
Fung has created the groupings: minimal democracy, egalitarian democracy,
deliberative democracy and participatory democracy. (Fung, 2005) Minimal is
defined as “democracy as a political system in which the power to govern shifts
between elites who compete with one another for the votes of citizens.”
Representation reflects the notions of advancing citizens’ desires and
preferences in an aggregate fashion. Deliberative, in its current incarnation, is
concerning governance that involves deliberation and the offering of reasons for
decisions made and may be exemplified by the work of those such as Amy
Gutmann and Dennis Thompson. (Gutmann & Thompson, 1998, 2004)
Participatory is described that which has citizenry engaged in the actual doings of
governance and has adherents as diverse as those who, like Levine, advocate
co-production to the views expressed by Benjamin Barber in his early work,
Strong Democracy. (Barber, 1984; Levine, 1984) Neoliberal democratic
tendencies as they are expressed today tend to follow in either of the first two
camps. Participatory and deliberative democratic forms have much in common.
Renewed interest in the last two schools has developed in recent years. As Iris
Young so aptly states renewed interest has brought new ideas concerning the
Convention