ONLINE FIRST
published on April 6, 2018
Richard Schmitt
https://doi.org/10.5840/radphilrev20184385
Methods of Democratic Decision-Making
Elections, Deliberation, Mediation
The paper reflects on the methods democratic systems use for arriving at decisions. The most popular ones are elections where the majority rules and deliberative democracy. I argue that both of these do not measure up to the demands of democracy. Whether we use voting with majority rule or deliberative methods, only a portion of the citizenry is allowed to rule itself; minorities are always excluded. Instead of voting with majority ruler or deliberative methods, I suggest that we employ mediation (ADR) to reach agreement in democratic publics.