Liberale, republikanische, deliberative demokratie

Abstract

The model of "deliberative democracy ", as developed by Jürgen Habermas, requires the mergence of the models of liberal and republican democracies without sustaining the deficiencies and shortcomings of either type of democracy. This synthesisation of the aforesaid two types of democracy appears to be deficient. It is unsuccessful because, on the one hand, what Habermas essentially does is caricature republican democracy omitting some of the most crucial elements of this type of democracy, and on the other, because Habermas's idealisation of deliberative democracy is exaggerated. Such exaggerated idealisations emerge, first and foremost, due to an overvaluation of the democratic discourse and an undervaluation - in deliberative democracies too - of the existing need to act.