Overview and Context - Symposium: James S. Fishkin, Democracy When the People Are Thinking

Abstract

Can the people rule? This question has divided politicians and political scientists for decades, if not centuries. It is also the explicit topic of the second part of James Fishkin's new book, and the problem that infuses the first part's rich case studies with their significance. The arguments and the evidence he provides suggest that the answer is “yes”—assuming the existence of a carefully designed framework. In the process, Democracy When the People Are Thinking provides a defense of deliberative democracy and an empirically grounded plan for addressing its institutional realization that will shape all future research—and may shape actual practice.