Deliberative Theory and Deconstruction
A Democratic Venture
Shows how a productive dialogue between deliberative theory and deconstruction is both possible and desirable
- Opens a dialogue beyond the specifics of the Habermas–Derrida debate
- Draws critically on the insights of both deliberative theory and deconstruction to ensure they do justice to each other
- Offers a dynamic understanding of constitution making and democratic legitimacy
Our political climate is increasingly characterised by hostility towards constructed others. Steven Gormley answers the question: what does it mean, and how can we respond to the demand, to do justice to the other?
Gormley pursues this question by developing a critical, but productive, dialogue between deliberative theory and deconstruction. Two key claims emerge from this: doing justice to the other demands that we maintain an ethos of interruption; such an ethos requires a democratic form of politics. In developing this account, Gormley places deliberative theory and deconstruction into critical conversation with one the work of Mouffe, Aristotle, Rorty, Laclau and different traditions of critical theory.
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction: Doing Justice to the Other
1. Blind Spots and Insights: Between Deliberation and Agonism
2. A More Expansive Conception of Deliberation
3. Arguments and Hearing Something New
4. The Possibility of Political Thought and the Experience of Undecidability
5. The Demands of Deconstruction
6. The Democratic Venture
Bibliography
Index.
List of abbreviations
Introduction: Doing Justice to the Other
1. Blind Spots and Insights: Between Deliberation and Agonism
2. A More Expansive Conception of Deliberation
3. Arguments and Hearing Something New
4. The Possibility of Political Thought and the Experience of Undecidability
5. The Demands of Deconstruction
6. The Democratic Venture
Bibliography
Index.
Gormley’s book is one that democratic theory has been waiting for and it will be read with great profit by people on both sides of what has been a regrettable divide. It shows with originality, clarity and verve how the productive engagement of deliberative theory and deconstruction is both possible and desirable.
Deliberative theorists have increasingly sought to reorient their theories to feature multiple forms of exclusion that take place off-stage. In this thoughtful and clearly written book, Steven Gormley mobilises the work of Derrida to explain why this reorientation became necessary, and how contemporary deliberative theorists have opened spaces for those who had previously been overlooked. This compelling book provides insight into why the effort to perfect democratic justice requires ongoing vigilance, humility and creative empirical work.
