Destructive or Deliberative? Deliberation among the Political Elite

Abstract

Is deliberation present among the political elite? Should it be? And to what extent? What effects could (un)deliberative forms of political communication have on the well-functioning of our political and democratic systems? These are some of the intriguing questions the panel "Destructive or Deliberative? Deliberation among the Political Elite" aims to address. The panel brings together a diverse set of papers that all approach the topic of deliberation from a political elitist perspective. A diversity of methods, such as experiments, survey research, and discourse analysis, is employed to study (un)deliberative discourse and action among the political elite. In particular, these methods are used to study extreme rhetoric and its polarizing effects, to study political conflict and the process of making controversial decisions from the viewpoint of the elites themselves, and to study deliberative versus populist discourse in political leaders’ speeches.

Title	Details
The (De)polarizing Effects of Extreme Political Rhetoric	View Paper Details
When interests collide – How politicians perceive hard decisions	View Paper Details
Let’s Talk About It: Reconciling Deliberative and Populist Analyses of Democratic Discourses	View Paper Details
Perception of polarization among political representatives	View Paper Details
Conditions and outcomes of policy learning during deliberations among political elites: An analysis of the municipal councils and councilors in the Brussels-Capital Region	View Paper Details