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In-Depth Information
consideration.
109
The chain of governance that I propose in
Chapter 4
is
intended, by building strategies from the bottom up and by providing
continuity between layers of governance, to promote the in
uence of
views expressed in and the outcomes of deliberative participation at all
levels of decision-making.
110
A
nal consideration is whether it is right to equate representativeness
solely with the numbers of people involved, whether directly or indi-
rectly,withmakingadecision.Todosoistomisunderstandthereasons
for supplementing representative democracy with deliberative institu-
tions. The introduction of deliberative democracy is called for because
there is a perceived need to replace democratic practices that simply
aggregate preferences with ones that use the best means available of
identifying what courses of action would be in the interests of society
as a whole. The essence of deliberative participation is
'
to dig deeper into
'
'
people
inthehopethat
outcomes capturing what is genuinely valuable for participants, rather
than those that would provide immediate satisfaction but at a long-term
cost, will be revealed.
111
In view of this more extensive approach to
exploring what would be bene
svaluesandbeliefsthanprivatesurveyscando
cial for society at large, it could be argued
that
even though smaller numbers are involved, the people are actually
being better represented
'
.
112
It is in the nature of the process and the
opportunity it affords for participants to re
'
ect upon a wide variety of
experiences and perspectives, and consider where their true interests lie,
that the legitimacy of deliberation and conclusions reached through it
rests, rather than in the numbers of those involved with the process.
113
s inadequacy
A concluding argument in favour of participation through deliberative
institutions is that there are grounds for questioning the capacity for the
consultation of citizens, when used as the sole means of obtaining
popular input to political decision-making, to promote the transforma-
tion in preferences that may lead to broad public support for ecological
6.3.4 Consultation
'
109
Barry,
'
Sustainability
'
,pp.121
-
2; Jacobs,
'
Environmental Valuation
'
,pp.223
-
4; Smith,
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
, pp. 74
-
5; Meadowcroft,
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
,p.208.
110
Chapter 4,
Sections 4.4
,
4.5
and
4.6
.
111
Jacobs,
'
Environmental Valuation
'
,p.223.
112
Ibid
. See also J. Dryzek,
'
Legitimacy and Economy in Deliberative Democracy
'
(2001)
29 Political Theory,651
-
69.
113
Smith,
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
,p.91.
