Description: Stressing the role of conversation, argument and negotiation in politics, particularly in democratic government, this book offers an empirical study of deliberative politics. Using the parliamentary debates in Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States as an empirical base, the authors measure the level of deliberation by constructing a discourse quality index, characterized by a high inter-coder reliability.
Brief description: Marcus R. Steenbergen is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Review Quotes: "Deliberative democracy is no longer a topic for political theorists only. [The authors] offer 'a helping hand' (p. 42) to the theorists by empirically investigating real-world deliberations...Deliberative Politics in Action contributes some important insights into the institutional conditions of deliberation."
Political Science Quarterly, Christian f. Rostboll, Arizona State University