---
bibtex: @book{fishkin1991democracy,
title={Democracy and deliberation: New directions for democratic reform},
author={Fishkin, James S},
volume={217},
year={1991},
publisher={Cambridge Univ Press}
}
---
"This book is about how to bring power to the people under conditions where the people can think about the power they exercise. It is, in short, about how to reconcile democracy and deliberation." p1
Fishkin views democracy as a deliberative process - one that brings about good decisions. Current representative & electoral politics have undermined this consequential virtue. Thus, "we face a forced choice between politically equal but relatively incompetent masses and politically unequal but relatively more competent elites." p2
His solution is deliberative opinion polls: a national sample of citizens is given the time & opportunity to interact and question prospective political candidates. These delegate citizens now have the knowledge of elites, with the interests (and thus equality) of the demos, thereby avoiding the epistemic demands on average citizens. Outcomes would be prescriptive rather than predictive because they idealise the conditions. p3
A fully defensive version of democracy must simultaneously fulfil three conditions: p12
- political equality
- deliberation
- non-tyranny
Through the thought experiment of the Qube, Fishkin argues that a purely direct democracy is far too thing a conception of democracy to make choices meaningful. The challenges to direct democracy include: p21
- the deliberative competence of the demos. Why give power to uninformed voters?
- an aroused public is vulnerable to demagoguery, and the tyranny of the majority.
Simply pursuing political equality neglects other fundamental aspects of self-rule such as decision quality that undermine the legitimacy of democratic authority.
"The three essential conditions for a fully realised democratic system are political equality, non-tyranny, and deliberation" p29
Political equality defined: "the institutionalisation of a system which grants equal consideration to everyone's preferences and which grants everyone appropriately equal opportunities to formulate preferences on the issues under consideration." p30-31
It can be conceptualised as formal when each citizen has equal suffrage rights; and informal, when each citizen has equal desire or access to influence the political process ie controlling the media & framing the agenda. p30
Non-political inequalities are a concern in even procedurally fair systems whenever they spill over and influence political outcomes.
Political equality requires: p31
- formal equality (each voter has equal probability of being the decisive voter)
- insulation from irrelevant conditions
- an effective hearing of all voices
Tyranny defined: "the choice of a policy that imposes severe deprivations when an alternative policy could have been chosen that would have imposed no severe deprivations on anyone" p34
Deliberation gives democracy epistemic virtue. It refines "inclinations of the moment" through "sedate reflection" resulting in better collective decisions. p36
Fishkin develops a model of democracy along 3 axes:
- north <==> south: Madisonian (minoritarian) vs Majoritarian
- east <==> west: Representative vs direct
- near <==> far: Deliberative vs non-deliberative
Tyranny is equally possible by omission as it is by commission. Giving anyone a veto simply entrenches the status quo. p49
There is a conflict between size & deliberation. Smaller groups lend towards deliberation not possible in larger ones. Larger ones can better deal with complex matters. p51
Participation also has transformative effects p51 (see Mill's moral virtue & Pateman's educative function argument). Fishkin rejects participation as an independent criterion of virtue.