Deliberative Democracy in Practice

Political decision making is more than just the aggregation of preferences. Politics also has deliberative features in that, under certain conditions, the force of the better arguments can be decisive for the outcome. The deliberative perspective is often criticized for being a normative ideal rather than an explanatory approach to the study of democratic politics. I argue, however, that the deliberative approach is an important supplement to the traditional conception of politics as a perpetual struggle for power and influence. By means of comparing two municipal communities I have illustrated how it can enrich and deepen our understanding of political decision making in local government. My conclusion is that we need more than one approach in order to establish what constitutes and legitimates local politics, as well as what makes it ticking. In local municipalities, we will find different institutionalized working methods that will enhance more choice in terms of argumentative logic.