Justice Peter Applegarth launched Ron Levy and Professor Graeme Orr's book The Law of Deliberative Democracy (Routledge 2016) at the Queensland Supreme Court Library last Tuesday. The book is one of the first to trace law’s effects on political deliberation in detail, and on electoral deliberation especially. Deliberative democracy has yet to penetrate judicial consciousness, whilst the pragmatics of law are yet to be taken seriously by deliberative democrats. They book argues that it is incumbent on both sides – those who make laws, and political theorists and critics of democracy – to bridge this gap.
The work is highly relevant today in light of recent electoral processes that may make us question the value of democracy, or seek ways to reform its flaws – to be more inclusive of different kinds of people, views and ideas. Read Dr Levy’s remarks on this topic here. Professor Orr’s remarks can be read here.
The Law of Deliberative Democracy can be purchased in several formats from Amazon. Or, from the publisher directly in hardcopy (with discount code FLR40).
