Hearing the Other Side: Deliberative versus Participatory Democracy

Recommended by Jennifer Hochschild, Henry LaBarre Jayne Professor of Government; Professor of African and African American Studies

Diana Mutz’s “Hearing the Other Side” is a careful political science analysis of a basic political conundrum: We seem to be able to have either deeply committed political or social activists, or thoughtful, deliberative discussions among people who disagree with each other — but not both. How can a democracy thrive in that sort of situation, and how might we alleviate it (if we should)?