Deliberative democracy and political parties: functions and consequences

Traditional deliberative democratic theory has treated political parties as the least likely environment for good deliberation (Cohen 1989). Over the last three decades, this has changed to some extent, at least in the newly formed parties that do not rely on the traditional forms of organization. However, we lack a clear understanding of the functioning (who participates and how participants interact) and the effects of these partisan deliberative practices. This symposium contributes to filling this gap by analyzing the experiences of four political parties that implemented innovative deliberative practices: the Czech Pirate Party, the Danish Alternativet, the Romanian Demos, and the Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party. The symposium aims to map the preconditions for the adoption of specific deliberative practices within parties and to explain their effects. On this point, the four contributions highlight a variety of effects, ranging from enhanced quality of internal decision-making process (Alternativet and the Czech Pirate Party) or higher legitimacy of those running for public office (Demos) to electoral performance (Spanish Workers’ Socialist Party and the Czech Pirate Party).