CONCEPTUAL ANALYSIS OF DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY: A SARTORIAN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze the concept of deliberative democracy by using Giovanni Sartori’s methodological framework. Sartori’s approach to concept analysis can be used to understand the concept of deliberative democracy in contemporary political theory. Because of the overwhelming literature on the concept of democracy, we don’t have unambiguous meanings of deliberative democracy which one can use in comparative political discourses and methods. The aim of this paper is to disambiguate and clarify the concept of deliberative democracy with the help of Sartori’s approach to concept formation and analysis. Conceptualization, Sartori argues, is intrinsically a qualitative exercise that is indispensable not merely for the intelligibility of empirical data but also for the meaningful rigorous research activity in social sciences. Furthermore, theorizing is only possible when we are clear about the concepts involved in the theory.