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Project
The "deliberative personality": Bringing citizens back into the theory of deliberative democracy (FWOTM646)
Democracy means many things to many people. For some it means that citizens have the right to express their political preferences through free elections. For deliberative democrats, the strength of any democracy is public deliberation, the frequent and reasoned discussion between citizens on political issues. Through talking to each other, citizens identify good reasons and reject bad ones, which eventually leads to well-considered decision making.
Research on this deliberative type of democracy has, however, largely neglected the fact that deliberation is an interpersonal process; it is about one person talking to another, implying that differences in personalities could have a major impact on the discussion.
Introverted people might have a hard time speaking up, people who are open to new experiences might embrace the possibility of talking to strangers about political issues, and conscientious people might find it important that the discussion is based on solid arguments before agreeing to a certain course of action.
Even though the idea that personalities matter to deliberation is intuitively appealing, it is also an area that remains uncharted territory. This project therefore aims to assess the importance of these personality traits for democratic deliberation. More specifically, we aim to find out which personality traits determine whether people engage in public deliberation, and how these traits impact shape the process of deliberation.
Research on this deliberative type of democracy has, however, largely neglected the fact that deliberation is an interpersonal process; it is about one person talking to another, implying that differences in personalities could have a major impact on the discussion.
Introverted people might have a hard time speaking up, people who are open to new experiences might embrace the possibility of talking to strangers about political issues, and conscientious people might find it important that the discussion is based on solid arguments before agreeing to a certain course of action.
Even though the idea that personalities matter to deliberation is intuitively appealing, it is also an area that remains uncharted territory. This project therefore aims to assess the importance of these personality traits for democratic deliberation. More specifically, we aim to find out which personality traits determine whether people engage in public deliberation, and how these traits impact shape the process of deliberation.
Date:1 Oct 2012 → 30 Sep 2015
Keywords:Ethnicity, Federalism, International Relations, Democracy, Nationalism, Eastern Europe, Migrants, Political Parties
Disciplines:History and archaeology, Economics and business