Quote of the Week

"Only across the system as a whole can deliberation be expected to operate as a cleansing mechanism that filters out the ‘‘muddy’’ elements from a discursively structured legitimation process. As an essential element of the democratic process, deliberation is expected to fulfill three functions: to mobilize and pool relevant issues and required information, and to specify interpretations; to process such contributions discursively by means of proper arguments for and against; and to generate rationally motivated yes and no attitudes that are expected to determine the outcome of procedurally correct decisions."

Jürgen Habermas

in "Political communication in media society. Does democracy still enjoy an epistemic dimension? The impact of normative theory on empirical research," Communication Theory, 2006: 16(4), 411-426.

Photo credit: Wolfram Huke