List, Christian, Luskin, Robert C., Fishkin, James S. and McLean, Iain (2006) Deliberation, single-peakedness, and the possibility of meaningful democracy: evidence from deliberative polls. PSPE working papers, 01-2006. Department of Government, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
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Abstract
Majority cycling and related social choice paradoxes are often thought to threaten the meaningfulness of democracy. But deliberation can prevent majority cycles – not by inducing unanimity, which is unrealistic, but by bringing preferences closer to single-peakedness. We present the first empirical test of this hypothesis, using data from Deliberative Polls. Comparing preferences before and after deliberation, we find increases in proximity to single-peakedness. The increases are greater for lower versus higher salience issues and for individuals who seem to have deliberated more versus less effectively. They are not merely a byproduct of increased substantive agreement (which in fact does not generally increase). Our results both refine and support the idea that deliberation, by increasing proximity to single-peakedness, provides an escape from the problem of majority cycling.
| Item Type: | Monograph (Working Paper) |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://www2.lse.ac.uk/government/PSPE/WorkingPaper... |
| Additional Information: | © 2006 The Authors |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | J Political Science > JA Political science (General) |
| Sets: | Departments > Government Departments > Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method Research centres and groups > Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science (CPNSS) Research centres and groups > Political Science and Political Economy Group |
| Identification Number: | 01-2006 |
| Date Deposited: | 29 Jul 2008 08:59 |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/20069/ |
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