Deliberative democracy – whereby people debate competing ideas before agreeing upon political action – must rest on its capacity to include all points of view. But how does this inclusive framework engage with activism that occurs in opposition to deliberative systems themselves? Through the examples of ACT UP, Black Lives Matter, and other contemporary activist movements, Activism, Inclusion, and the Challenges of Deliberative Democracy explores the systemic oppression that prevents activists from participating in deliberative systems as equals. Anna Drake concludes that only by addressing activism separately and on its own terms can we acknowledge its distinct democratic contribution.

Democratic equality entails a principle that everyone whose basic interests are affected by policies should be included in the process of making them. Yet individuals and groups often claim that decision making processes are dominated by only some of the interests and perspectives in the society. What are the ideals of inclusion through which such criticisms should be made, and which might guide more inclusive political practice? This book considers that question from the point of view of norms of democratic communication, processes of representation and association, and how wide the scope of political jurisdictions should be. Democratic theorists have not sufficiently attended to the ways processes of debate and decision making often marginalize individuals and groups because the norms of political discussion are biased against some forms of expression. Inclusion and Democracy broadens our understanding of democratic communication by reflecting on the positive political functions of narrative, rhetorically situated appeals, and public protest. It reconstructs concepts of civil society and public sphere as enacting such plural forms of communication among debating citizens in large-scale societies. The book considers issues of the scope of the polity at two levels: global and local. The scope of a polity should extend as wide as the scope of social and economic interactions that raise issues of justice. Today this implies the need for global democratic institutions. At a more local level, processes of residential segregation and the design of municipal jurisdictions often result in the ability for actions in one locale to affect those in other locales without those making the decisions having to include some of those affected in the decision making process. Metropolitan governments which preserve significant local autonomy may therefore be necessary to promote political equality.

Beyond Empathy and Inclusion examines how to achieve democratic rule in large pluralistic societies where citizens are deeply divided. Scudder argues that listening is key; in a democracy, citizens do not have to agree with their political opponents, but they do have to listen to them. Being heard is what ensures we have a say in the laws to which we are held. While listening is admittedly difficult, this book investigates how to motivate citizens to listenseriously, attentively, and humbly, even to those with whom they disagree.

This book gathers a series of studies by scholars who have dedicated these last few years to research in the field of participatory democracy. Their purpose is precisely to engage in a theoretical discussion about the value of participatory democracy in the 21st century. Part I deals with the challenge of antipolitics. This is one of the greatest challenges faced by contemporary democratic theory: How can it be possible to take into account in political decision-making processes those whose voices issue disagreement with the available alternatives in the exact same political decision-making processes, without simply excluding them provisionally from democratic participation? Part II focuses on challenges to deliberative systems. Deliberative democracy is probably the most important alternative conception of democracy in today’s available literature on the topic, insofar as it responds to a sort of general uneasiness with mere preference aggregation by majoritarian voting, and instead seeks to incorporate the vast spectrum of heterogeneous interests in modern societies in the search for mutually acceptable policies. However, it is also subject to specific theoretical challenges that must be overcome if it is to be taken seriously as a viable alternative for providing better conditions of political participation. Part II deals with some of those challenges, even if in a sympathetic attitude towards deliberative decision-making. Finally, Part III approaches pluralism and cultural diversity in a shared public space. Its main challenge consists in promoting an idea of active citizenship that can meet the demands of a world increasingly defined by the processes of globalization. Ultimately, that is what will end up combining a valid notion of active citizenship with effective decision-making procedures in pluralistic democracies. More than a simple summary of research, Challenges to Democratic Participation is designed to be accessible and useful to a wide variety of audiences, from scholars and practitioners working in numerous disciplines and fields, to activists and average citizens who are interested in seeking a theoretical groundwork for democratic practices; it also intends to enhance current scholarship, serving as a guide to existing research and identifying useful future research.

Deliberative democracy is increasingly central in democratic theory and its concepts are employed in a growing number of fields, including social movement studies and environmental politics. At the same time, contemporary citizen activism seems to feature some forms of engagement that resonate with deliberative democratic ideas. This book provides an in-depth investigation of the qualities of citizens’ engagement from a deliberative democratic standpoint. The key concept through which such qualities are investigated is ‘deliberative capacity’, the extent to which organisations host authentic, inclusive, and consequential discursive processes. This book is based on a comparative study of four grassroots local initiatives, two from Australia (in Tasmania and Queensland) and two from Italy (in Emilia-Romagna and Sicily). By offering a critical assessment of deliberation in social movement organisations, this study identifies key aspects affecting their ability to pursue democratic deliberation and sheds new light on the role of community actors in deliberative democracy.

Democracy in Motion uses theory, research, and practice to comprehensively explore what we know, how we know it, and what remains to be understood about deliberative civic engagement. The book is useful to scholars, practitioners, public officials, activists, and citizens who seek to utilize deliberative civic engagement in their communities.

This dissertation looks at the challenges that deliberative democratic theory encounters when it tries to offer a rich account of inclusion yet refuses to acknowledge the legitimacy of external protest. While sympathetic to deliberative democracy's goals, I challenge this focus upon the deliberative group as the theory tries to satisfy requirements of inclusion and legitimacy. In response I offer a normative account of protest within a larger deliberative framework - one that offers a more comprehensive account of democratic inclusion. I look at critiques of deliberative democracy, particularly in terms of the theory's ability to account for pluralism, and I argue that in order to meet this challenge we need to offer a normative justification of protest. Moreover, we need to do this not only to achieve full and effective inclusion but also to deal with the lack of efficacy that marginalized deliberants may encounter even when requirements of formal and effective inclusion are met. As I address these challenges I offer a theory of protest-as-deliberation in which I develop a normative justification of protest and set out the conceptual changes that allow this justification to be normatively and practically viable. My account takes protest, as something outside of and in opposition to the deliberative group, seriously and extends the deliberative framework to include protest; importantly, it does this without co-opting protestors. Drawing from previous critiques, I develop the normative and practical links that are necessary in order to facilitate a deliberative dialogue between protestors and the deliberative group. The conceptual changes that are necessary in order to realize protest-as-deliberation require that we re-evaluate the impact that deliberative criteria of reason-giving has upon effective inclusion and people's efficacy and that we change these criteria accordingly. Additionally, we need to revisit the democratic capacity of the public sphere, reconceptualized as the deliberative polity in which the process of protest-as-deliberation takes place. When we do this we ought to place a greater emphasis upon available public spaces, both physical and conceptual, that deliberants and protestors need in order for effective deliberation and contestation to occur.