CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2024
| Author | Aguilar, Alejandro Conrado |
|---|---|
| Title | Expanding Egalitarian Voices: How Discursive Frameworks Resolve Contemporary Participation Gaps |
| Summary | Democratic legitimacy depends on the equal consideration of its members as independent moral agents. Each citizen is guaranteed an equal opportunity to participate in the collective self-rule of the democratic community. Inequalities that emerge from political society must be justified according to this basic commitment to equality. Recent trends in political participation point to a worrying development regarding the foundational equality of impact. Large portions of democratic constituencies are retreating from the polls. Additionally, changes in political participation norms are increasingly captured by a narrowing social elite. Both of these trends place the legitimacy of our institutions into question. The means of political engagement are evolving outside of the scope of accountable political institutions. Effective and equal representation requires that groups are included that would not normally be included by traditional means. Deliberative democracy offers a useful framework for the incorporation of these now marginalized viewpoints. This paper argues that, despite challenges, inclusive deliberative fora focused on political education can operate as the necessary egalitarian discursive institutions that promote minority viewpoints in the absence of large-scale participation. |
| Supervisor | Miklosi, Zoltan |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2024/aguilar_alejandro.pdf |
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