Making Deliberative Democracy Practical: Public Consultation and Dispute Resolution

Deliberative democracy is a form of alternative dispute resolution. Consulting the public in a thoughtful and representative way can lead to consequential public policy outcomes that might otherwise have been difficult to achieve. However, some recent literature appears to treat deliberative democracy and alternative dispute resolution as rivals. 1 While there are differences in emphasis and in theoretical preoccupations between the two, there are also some overlapping aims and methods.