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Research Project

Micropolitics of Deliberation

John Dryzek, Simon Niemeyer and Selen Ayirtman

This project explores the nature of democratic deliberation with a view to improving theories of democracy and prospects for institutionalising the benefits ascribed to deliberative democracy. It aims to systematically address fundamental questions about what it means to deliberate using empirical investigation of actual deliberative process. The methods employed are have been trialled with promising results and accepted as being consistent with normative deliberative theory. These will involve both formal hypothesis testing and qualitative exploration of results to reveal insights about the process of deliberation. The findings will be used to re-examine theory and formulate recommendations for instutionalisation deliberative democracy in both Australian and international contexts.

Start Date: July 2005

End Date: 2008