ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examined the effect of deliberative democracy on the polarization of opinion. Through three case analyses, we find that deliberative democracy has two major components – provision of information and group discussion. Polarization of opinion can be explained by several theories: social identity theory, social comparison, and confirmation bias. We constructed a deliberative democracy model that reflected these mechanisms of polarization. We found that deliberative democracy actually decreased polarization of opinion when group discussion was a strong factor. Our study provides guidelines for an institutional design incorporating deliberative democracy, with emphasis on the composition of unbiased group discussions.

摘要

在本文中，我们检验了协商民主对意见两极分化的影响。通过三个案例分析，我们发现协商民主有两个主要组成部分——信息提供和小组讨论。意见的两极分化可以用几种理论来解释：社会认同理论、社会比较和确认偏差。我们构建了一个反映这些两极分化机制的协商民主模式。我们发现，当小组讨论是一个重要因素时，协商民主实际上减少了意见的两极分化。我们的研究为纳入协商民主的制度设计提供了指导方针，重点是公正的小组讨论的组成。