In the book “Deliberative Democracy”, Joshua Cohen explores the ideal of a deliberative democracy in chapter 3 “Deliberation and Democratic Legitimacy”, his definition of a deliberative democracy is one in which its actions are decided via the public deliberation of its citizens.
He writes his essay in three sections, the first is concerned with Rawls’ discussion of democracy, he uses this discussion to outline features of his deliberative democracy, as well as expressing doubt as to whether the importance of these features is apparent in the notion of a fair system of social cooperation. The second section of his essay is where he develops his theory of deliberative democracy as an ideal deliberative procedure. This ideal provides a framework to link the intuitive ideal of democratic association to a more substantive deliberative view of democracy. His …show more content…
The reason for this is that political opportunities and powers in a just society must not be dependent on economic or social positions, they must be open to all, and apparent to all. In order to ensure this equality, we might be required to provide public funding of political parties, restrict private spending, we might institute progressive tax policies that would aim to limit wealth inequalities and ensure that the political discourse is not controlled by the economically and socially dominant groups. (Rawls 1971, pp. 225-226, 277-278; 1982, pp. 42-43). In principle, these distributional requirements might be more stringently egalitarian than those fixed by the difference principle. (Rawls 1982, p.42) This is because the main point of these measures is not only to ensure democratic politics are conducted under fair conditions, and not only to encourage just legislation, but to ensure that the equality of citizens is manifest and to declare a commitment to that equality as the public
He writes his essay in three sections, the first is concerned with Rawls’ discussion of democracy, he uses this discussion to outline features of his deliberative democracy, as well as expressing doubt as to whether the importance of these features is apparent in the notion of a fair system of social cooperation. The second section of his essay is where he develops his theory of deliberative democracy as an ideal deliberative procedure. This ideal provides a framework to link the intuitive ideal of democratic association to a more substantive deliberative view of democracy. His …show more content…
The reason for this is that political opportunities and powers in a just society must not be dependent on economic or social positions, they must be open to all, and apparent to all. In order to ensure this equality, we might be required to provide public funding of political parties, restrict private spending, we might institute progressive tax policies that would aim to limit wealth inequalities and ensure that the political discourse is not controlled by the economically and socially dominant groups. (Rawls 1971, pp. 225-226, 277-278; 1982, pp. 42-43). In principle, these distributional requirements might be more stringently egalitarian than those fixed by the difference principle. (Rawls 1982, p.42) This is because the main point of these measures is not only to ensure democratic politics are conducted under fair conditions, and not only to encourage just legislation, but to ensure that the equality of citizens is manifest and to declare a commitment to that equality as the public