Discourse quality and political decisions: an empirical analysis of debates in the German Conference Committee

Abstract: "This paper explores effects of deliberation on decisions in a context of representative politics. It tests claims of deliberative democratic theory that a high quality of discourse leads to more consensual decisions (formal outputs) and to policies that approximate normative ideals of distributive justice (substantive outputs). The mostly quantitative empirical analyses are based on recorded debates of the German Conference Committee (Vermittlungsausschuss). To this end, indicators which operationalize diverse dimensions of discursive politics are developed and transformed into a discourse quality index (DQI). The results imply that discourse quality is a strong determinant of the formal outputs but is quite ineffective to counteract voting power in respect to the substantive outputs." (author's abstract)

Object Details

• Alternative title: Diskursqualität und politische Entscheidungen
• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 31 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Discussion Papers / Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung, Forschungsschwerpunkt Zivilgesellschaft, Konflikte und Demokratie, Abteilung Zivilgesellschaft und transnationale Netzwerke ; Bd. 2003-101

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Politik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Berlin
• (when): 2003
• Creator: Spörndli, Markus
• Contributor: Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung gGmbH

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-111517
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:45 PM CET