Discursive Democracy: Politics, Policy, and Political Science

by John S. Dryzek

In this book, John Dryzek criticizes the dominance of instrumental rationality and objectivism in political institutions and public policy and in the practice of political science. He argues that the reliance on these kinds of politics and to technocracies of expert cultures that are not only repressive, but surprisingly ill-equipped for dealing with complex social problems. Drawing on critical theory, he outlines an alternative program for the organization of political institutions advocating a form of communicatively rational democracy, which he terms discursive democracy, that stresses the importance of active citizenship and public discourse. He draws out the limitations of instrumental rationality and investigates how policy analysis and political science may be reformed to help constitute and comprehend democracy. Discursive Democracy examines how the political process can be made more vital and meaningful. At the same time it shows how such an invigorated process will serve as a more effective agent for social problem solving.

Genres: Political Science, Philosophy, Politics

264 pages, Hardcover

First published October 26, 1990

Reviews

[Sarah Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Although I am already familiar with deliberative democracy, this book really explained the entire philosophy of the practice in a really systematic and clear way. Dryzek anticipates questions and concerns readers might have about the philosophies and concepts he discusses, and he does a brilliant job of it. I would say the biggest struggle, for me, is the concept of communicative rationality. Although Dryzek acknowledges that there aren't real-world approximations of it, it's a concept that underpins the entire discursive democracy process. I just can't get past the problem of how difficult it would be in the real world to have a group made up of people from all walks of life who have equal communicative competency. I know this is not his original concept, and I actually prefer this form of rationality to the instrumental type so focused on elsewhere; but I was hoping for a better alternative to instrumental rationality. So my search continues for the model (or, more likely, models) of rationality that explain human behaviour and should inform decision making, but I am very happy I read this book. There was a lot to digest, and it's likely to be a book I will refer to again and again.