Samenvatting

Deliberative democracy is a topic of fierce debate in political philosophy, democratic theory and other disciplines. Over the last two decades, the notion of deliberation - or dialogue - as a key democratic asset has also pervaded practices and empirical studies of public policy and governance. Although avid advocates and critics of deliberative governing and policy making may be found, the majority of scholars and professionals in this field take on a pragmatic, agnostic stance, and a public debate between them remains largely absent. Thus, deliberation is hardly contested or questioned, while in practice, it regularly leads to failure and disappointment. The article introduces and transcribes a dialogue on the failing of deliberation that was performed at a symposium on ‘Contested democracy’ by The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Jan. 2011, The Hague). An optimist and a cynic deliberate the role of deliberation, accompanied by a chorus of administration scientists.