Systems

Abstract

This chapter takes a broad view of deliberative politics beyond the forum. It examines the field’s ‘systemic turn’ as a normative, empirical, and a political project, with each dimension appreciating deliberative democracy’s operation in an imperfect speech situation. Placing the issue of power at the centre of analysis not only identifies obstructions in the circulation of inclusive and contesting discourses, but also examines the possibilities for democratic renewal. Power plays an ambiguous and sometimes contradictory role in the deliberative system. The challenge is to critically examine the context in which these exercises of power take place.