Deliberative democracy in dark times

Abstract

This final substantive chapter extends the discussion of deliberative democracy and power by focusing on three topics that have shaped contemporary thinking about the pathologies of democracy—post-truth, populism, and illiberalism. The chapter concludes with questions often raised but as yet unanswered in deliberative theory: What is its account of change? How does it take power? The chapter makes a case for a humble version of deliberative theory, one that does not hoist a flag declaring mission accomplished, but one that constantly evolves because it learns from its mistakes.