The temporal dimension of deliberative practices

This theoretical contribution focuses on an under-explored aspect in deliberative democratic theory and in democratic innovations inspired by the latter: the temporal dimension of deliberative practices. In a first step, the paper maps the temporal dimension of deliberative practices within a synchronic and diachronic perspective. From a synchronic perspective, the question is raised as to how much time deliberative practices require in comparison to other democratic practices and procedures. Here, I argue that although the relationship between deliberative and non-deliberative practices is reflected in systemic approaches to deliberative democratic theory, this has so far hardly been done with regard to their respective temporal logics. In diachronic terms, the paper distinguishes between future-oriented perspectives, which deliberative democratic theory has increasingly addressed in recent years, for instance with regard to the inclusion of future generations, and past-oriented perspectives, which have so far rarely been considered in theory. In a second step, the paper builds on this by addressing a central aspect related to the past dimension and asks what role remembering plays in deliberative practices. On the one hand, memory can be an important resource for information and arguments. On the other hand, collective memories can perpetuate distorted perceptions of reality in deliberation processes. In this context, concepts of historical institutionalism such as path dependency can help to understand the dynamics of deliberation processes over shorter and longer periods of time. Deliberation processes never start from scratch, but build on past conflicts and discourses. I argue that these aspects must be integrated into a systemic conception of deliberative democracy. In a third step, the paper reflects on the implications that could arise from the role of memory for the design of democratic innovations such as citizens' assemblies. How can remembering as a resource be productively integrated into the design of democratic innovations? How can experiences from democratic innovations themselves be systematically stored and made available for future deliberative processes? The paper concludes with reflections on how future research could build on the analytical perspective presented. Overall, the paper aims at a conceptual exploration of the temporal dimension of deliberative systems, which allows to generate well-founded hypotheses for the effects of synchronous and diachronic aspects of deliberative practices as well as their interaction.