Justification of deliberation
From Deliberative Democracy Institiute Wiki
What are the justifications for deliberation?
Please enter your own justification or improve the current suggestions.
To answer this question we have to ask ourselves, for what purpose a group deliberates? And the other question we may ask is why use deliberation for this purpose and not some other way.
Deliberation is a method of group decision making. It's aim is to make decisions on future routs the group may proceed and actions she may take. It is one of many ways to make decisions. It is concerns more with reaching a thoughtful, well considered decisions, which were evolved by the group through considering many perspectives and solutions, and developing and selecting appropriate decisions. It is considered a slow method for reaching conclusions. If done correctly it should in theory reach wiser solutions, which are more inclusive and more agreeable by the group members. Yet due to the problem of coordination, when the process is involving large numbers of participants, the deliberation process may become very slow, until in some point it may become inefficient. There fore the process of deliberation is used regularly in small groups, and is rarely used in groups larger then 15 people (Usually, 7 members is an optimal number for classical deliberation). In most cases, decisions are made by one decision maker, who may or may not consult with other members of the group. The
The legitimecy of a system of deliberation in decision making, depend on it's efficiency in promoting long-term prosperty of the members of the group. An efficient deliberation will be a one that needs low investment of resources by the citizens and yeald decisions that enable larger parts of the populations to flourish.
Deliberation systems have three main functions, according to the the writers of Deliberative systems[1].
- Epistemic - Good deliberation should produce well corroborated and inter-subjective SON. It should produced unbiased decisions, and eliminate as much as possible group thinking. The decision by the citizens will be well informed.
- Ethic - Good deliberation will take the needs of all members and will produce optimal inclusive solutions. A solution that will enable all members to feel that they are benefiting from being a members in the group.
- Democratic - People will engage shared challenges, will recognize and understand on other citizens, and will be responsible for the acts taken by the state. This will make the citizens influential, involved and responsible. It will strength the social capital and the education of the citizens. It will strive to get as much inclusive solution so that everybody will feel that she or he is been concerned as important and equal citizen.
References
- ↑ Parkinson, J., & Mansbridge, J. (Eds.). (2012). Deliberative Systems: Deliberative Democracy at the Large Scale, Cambridge University Press. p.10-12