Animal rights protest and the challenge to deliberative democracy

Abstract

Political theorists are increasingly investigating the tensions between the ideal of deliberative democracy and the practices of radical political activists. This paper seeks to contribute to that debate by analysing deliberative democrats’ disagreements with one particular group of political protestors – animal rights activists. The paper concentrates on two major areas of contention between these two groups: the idea of politics as a process of levying costs on opponents and the idea of a moral economy of disagreement. We then examine the circumstances of deliberation, suggesting that problems with the use of ideal theory as a standard against which to judge existing practice. The paper concludes by arguing that, despite recent amendments by its proponents, deliberative democracy remains an overly prescriptive approach to democratic politics.

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