Hayekian political economy and the limits of deliberative democracy

Inspired by Habermasian critiques of liberalism, supporters of deliberative democracy seek an extension of social democratic institutions to further a reinvigorated communicative rationality against the 'atomism' of market processes. This paper oilers a critique of deliberative democratic theory from a Hayekian perspective. For Hayek, the case against the social democratic state rests with the Superior capacity of markets to extend communicative rationality beyond the realm of verbal discourse.