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# Is deliberative democracy really "democratic"
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/is-deliberative-democracy-really-democratic/
- Published: 2007-08-14T19:08:48.000Z
- Updated: 2019-02-14T22:37:04.000Z
- Author: Tony Curzon Price
- Tags: #en, #Migrated, #Import 2026-04-09 18:23

I happened to be re-reading [Professor John Dunn's excellent 2005 article ](https://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-opening/focus%5F2944.jsp)on what democracy is good for and what it isn't much good for and I was struck by the concluding paragraph:

*Less steadily and on far less egalitarian terms, it \[democracy\] also provides a framework through which to explore together what people should and should not attempt to do as a community. Virtually none of the elements of an answer to that question can come from democracy as an idea. Almost all have to be pieced together arduously from somewhere else.*

The current [fashion for deliberative democracy](http://cdd.stanford.edu/polls/docs/summary/?ref=opendemocracy.net): is it really about democracy, or is it about educating the voters because of the fear of democracy? As Professor Dunn also drily points out in that article:

*Crudely speaking, the political appeal of democracy lies in its claim to realise political equality. (So, soberly speaking, does its potential political menace.)*