'''Sum:'''

When properly conducted, then, democratic politics involves public deliberation focused on the ''common good,'' requires some form of manifest ''equality among citizens'',and shapes ''the identity and interests of citizens'' in ways that contribute to the formation of a ''public conception of common good''.

# '''A Continuous system for governing the group''': A deliberative democracy is an ongoing and independent association, whose members expect it to continue into the indefinite future.

# '''To their deliberation there are results''': The members of the association share (and it is common knowledge that they share) the view that the appropriate terms of association provide a framework for or are the results of their deliberation. They share, that is, a commitment to coordinating their activities within institutions that make deliberation possible and according to norms that they arrive at through their deliberation. For them, free deliberation among equals is the basis of legitimacy.

# '''Every body is capble of deliberating''': The members recognize one another as having deliberative capacities, i.e. the capacities required for entering into a public exchange of reasons and for acting on the result of such public reasoning.

For a deliberative process there are three steps:

# There is a need to decide on an agenda.