“The theory of deliberative democracy has been an important contribution to understanding polity, but it also has been limited by its assumptions about public discourse. Talking Democracy engages many of the theory’s important statements and persistent problems, and offers a rich reformulation of discursive agency by drawing on the tradition of rhetoric. This fine volume is a timely—indeed, overdue—contribution to both political and rhetorical studies.”—Robert Hariman, editor of Prudence: Classical Virtue, Postmodern Practice

"Talking Democracy is an excellent volume, not only because the essays recover forgotten sources of profound reflection on rhetoric and the true nature of democratic deliberation, but also because the contributors display a remarkable flexibility in bringing historical perspectives to bear on contemporary issues. Perhaps the greatest virtue of this volume is the service it does in bridging the divide within political theory between the study of the history of political thought and contemporary attempts to construct new theoretical models. The contributors have not merely argued that even premodern sources can shed light on questions central to political theory today—they have demonstrated it."— Devin Stauffer, The University of Texas at Austin, Perspectives on Politics

"A fine scholarly volume, Talking Democracy is a salutary corrective to any conception of political theorizing as something of a straightforwardly progressive enterprise which has long ago surpassed the wisdom of the ancients, who remain only to be caricatured or pillaged. The editors accomplish this by assembling a diverse collection of essays which draw upon pre-modern political thought in order to assess the idea of deliberative democracy. The contributors illuminate the shortcomings of that present-day endeavor to design the best regime by retrieving an understanding of deliberative practices and democratic realities which deliberative democratic theory forgets or abstracts away from, whether neglectfully or willfully. Above all, the book demonstrates the wrongheadedness of imagining the possibility and supposing the desirability of liberating deliberation from rhetorical persuasion." —Travis D. Smith, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"This outstanding collection of essays, drawing on major figures in the history of political thought and reflecting on different historical periods, subjects deliberative democracy to a trenchant critique; it argues that democratic politics requires rhetoric, a form of speech and reasoning that is incompatible with the ideal of deliberation as it is commonly formulated. The individual essays have a remarkably high degree of unity in their focus on the place of rhetoric as a form of political reasoning, contributing to current debates and an understanding of the historical figures on whom they draw. The essays are generally clear, well written, and accessible to both undergraduates and professionals."—J.D. Moon, Choice

In their efforts to uncover the principles of a robust conception of democracy, theorists of deliberative democracy place a premium on the role of political expression—public speech and reasoned debate—as the key to democratic processes. They also frequently hark back to historical antecedents (as in the Habermasian invocation of the “public sphere” of eighteenth-century bourgeois society and the Arendtian valorization of the classical Athenian polis) in their quest to establish that deliberative procedures are more than “merely theoretical” and instead have a practical application. But for all this emphasis on the discursive and historical dimensions of democracy, these theorists have generally neglected the rich resources available in the history of rhetorical theory and practice. It is the purpose of Talking Democracy to resurrect this history and show how attention to rhetoric can help lead to a better understanding of both the strengths and limitations of current theories of deliberative democracy.

Contributors, besides the editors, are Russell Bentley, Tsae Lan Lee Dow, Tom Murphy, Arlene Saxonhouse, Gary Shiffman, John Uhr, Nadia Urbinati, John von Heyking, and Douglas Walton.