Academic

Lipkin on Deliberative Conversationalism

By Lawrence Solum

Robert Justin Lipkin (Widener University School of Law) has posted The Obama Phenomenon: Deliberative Conversationalism & the Pursuit of Community Through Presidential Politics (Journal of Law and Social Change, Forthcoming) on SSRN.  Here is the abstract:

Does political theory have an interesting relationship to presidential politics? This Article argues that the public statements of Senator Barack Obama exemplify an anti-foundationalist theory of political dispute resolution. This theory, called "deliberative conversationalism," attempts to answer the question of how agreement is possible in a republican democracy. The theory's central features include deliberation, conversation, transformative change, community, and, consensus. These are also elements in Senator Obama's vision for a new American politics. Understanding the relationship between the theory of deliberative conversationalism and Senator Obama's public statements provides a window into the mind of a politician who may become the next president of the United States.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on December 01, 2008 (boomark / email).