The Possibility of Institutionalizing Transnational Deliberative

Democracy: The Lessons from EU's Mini-publics (Europolis)

Abstract

This article aims to explore the possibility of institutionalizing transnational deliberative democracy in the age of globalization, examining the social experiment of European Union, Europolis.
  The construction of this article is as follows. First, we take a critical look at James Bohman's ‘mini-demoi’ as a conception of institutionalizing transnational deliberation. Then, I argue that his conception of institutional pluralism is incoherent with his ideal of democracy as ‘self-rule’.
  Second, to illustrate my argument, I analyze the results and organization of Europolis. From this analysis, I make the following points. (1) Mini-publics that do not aim at achieving agreement are capable of institutionalizing deliberative space in a transnational context, therefore generating multi-perspectives among well-informed participants in mini-publics despite their language or culture. And also, (2) mini-publics are expected to be representative of ideal publics, a microcosm. However, it is uncertain whether they actually can foster deliberation and considered judgment within mass society, if we take account of the characteristics of mass media.
  In conclusion, I argue, if we hope to realize deliberative institutions congruous with the ideal of democracy as ‘self-rule’, we should explore further the relationship between representation and democracy. We should do so especially in contemporary circumstances, when it is urgent to envisage how we incorporate transnational and diverse opinion-formation processes into globalized political will-formation.