Deliberative democracies and deliberative conflict resolution in the divided society

In the twenty-first century, democracy is fundamental to the human condition in the way that it frames and influences debates on national identity and affords various devices and solutions. Democratic devices, including referendums, electoral engineering, and consociational arrangements, have expanded to resolve and manage conflicts arising from divided societies. This essay argues that deliberative democracy is needed to complement but not replace referendums and consociational models. The essay reviews nondemocratic and nondeliberative democratic approaches, and shows that the findings all point to a deliberative condition that frames new discourses and mechanisms for innovative conflict resolution. The essay then examines, compares, and combines various approaches to the studies of deliberative democracy. Different forms of public deliberation, such as citizen juries, deliberative polling, and intercommunity or ethnic-group dialogue, all are new democratic devices to supplement and improve existing democratic institutions. They are not meant to replace them.