Description: From the local level to international politics, deliberation helps to increase mutual understanding and trust, in order to arrive at political decisions of high epistemic value and legitimacy. This book gives deliberation a dynamic dimension, analysing how levels of deliberation rise and fall in group discussions, and introducing the concept of 'deliberative transformative moments' and how they can be applied to deeply divided societies, where deliberation is most needed but also most difficult to work. Discussions between ex-guerrillas and ex-paramilitaries in Colombia, Serbs and Bosnjaks in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and police officers and locals in Brazilian favelas are used as case studies, with participants addressing how peace can be attained in their countries. Allowing access to the records and transcripts of the discussions opens an opportunity for practitioners of conflict resolution to apply this research to their work in trouble spots of the world, creating a link between the theory and practice of deliberation.
Brief description: Jurg Steiner is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at both the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Universitat Bern, Switzerland. He is the author of Deliberative Politics in Action (with Andre Bachtiger, Markus Sporndli and Marco R. Steenbergen, Cambridge, 2005) and The Foundations of Deliberative Democracy (Cambridge, 2012), and is a frequent consultant on the practical application of deliberation, especially on the Balkans.
Review Quotes: 'This book gives a real twist to studies on deliberation. It examines deliberation as it happens in practice, and it considers deliberation as a practice that all humans are capable of doing; some more, some less skilfully. The book is a felicitous attempt to put deliberation back with its feet on the earthly ground of mundane human activities.' Giovan Francesco Lanzara, Universitá degli studi, Bologna, Italy