This thesis normatively defends political equality and deliberation by citizens, arguing for the constitutional integration of randomly selected citizens’ bodies in modern representative democracies. This defence is initiated through Aristotle’s explication of the constitution of polity and its inclusion of all economic classes, especially through lottery as one method of selection for deliberative office. Since a unifying theme of this study is the justification of citizens’ deliberation through a labour theory of value, Aristotle’s philosophy is also criticized for its failure to politically value and include all labourers. This shortcoming propels applying Karl Marx, and his theory of the capitalist division of labour, to justify citizens’ assemblies that are fully inclusive. Finally, the feasibility and potential of a constitutionally implemented, randomly selected citizens’ body - as a means for mitigating political and socioeconomic hierarchy - is analyzed and reinforced through the contemporary case of the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly.

This thesis normatively defends political equality and deliberation by citizens, arguing for the constitutional integration of randomly selected citizens’ bodies in modern representative democracies. This defence is initiated through Aristotle’s explication of the constitution of polity and its inclusion of all economic classes, especially through lottery as one method of selection for deliberative office. Since a unifying theme of this study is the justification of citizens’ deliberation through a labour theory of value, Aristotle’s philosophy is also criticized for its failure to politically value and include all labourers. This shortcoming propels applying Karl Marx, and his theory of the capitalist division of labour, to justify citizens’ assemblies that are fully inclusive. Finally, the feasibility and potential of a constitutionally implemented, randomly selected citizens’ body - as a means for mitigating political and socioeconomic hierarchy - is analyzed and reinforced through the contemporary case of the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly.

Political deliberation is a classic component of collective decision-making. It consists in forming one’s political position through the give-and-take of reasons in the search of, but not necessarily reaching, consensus. Participants of genuine deliberation are open to transform their preferences in the light of persuasive arguments. Constitutional theory has borrowed this notion in its effort to reconstruct a justificatory discourse for judicial review of legislation. Constitutional courts were ascribed the pivotal role of implementing fundamental rights in most contemporary democracies and called for a more sophisticated picture of democratic politics. One influential defence has claimed that courts are not only insulated from electoral competition in order to guarantee the pre-conditions of majoritarian politics, but are deliberative forums of a distinctive kind: they are better located for public reasongiving. This belief has remained, from the normative point of view, largely underelaborated. The thesis proposes a model of deliberative performance to fill that gap. This qualitative concept unfolds the institutional and ethical requirements for courts to be genuinely deliberative. Instead of taking a stand on the old dispute about which institution is more legitimate to have the “last word” on constitutional meaning, this research leaves this question suspended and systematizes the large range of variations that can exist in constitutional courts’ performances. Discussions about the potential roles of constitutional courts, in this perspective, become more sensitive to contexts and to their varying degrees of legitimacy. The thesis offers a comprehensive picture of what is at stake if a constitutional court plans to be truly deliberative. This picture comprises the virtues presupposed by an ethics of deliberation, the institutional devices that facilitate deliberation, the approach to constitutional reasoning that is more hospitable to deliberation and, finally, the political perception to grasp the limits of deliberation itself.

The metaphor of politics-as-performance is commonly found in the political vernacular, from political ‘actors’ on the world ‘stage’ to the phenomenon of actors-turned-politicians. This interdisciplinary thesis comprises an extended exploration of the metaphor of politics-as-performance to generate a thick description of how political actors are represented in the visible public sphere. Performance theory has a strong heritage in other disciplines within social science, notably sociology (Goffman) and social anthropology (Turner), but has had more limited application in political science. Taking this limitation as a starting point, the thesis will argue that the metaphor of politics-as-performance is more than a banal turn of phrase. It can be a powerful analytical and theoretical tool in exploring the role, form and content of political information in a deliberative democracy. The thesis sets up and draws upon four UK-based case studies: the 2007 Blair-Brown premiership handover; the Scottish National Party’s 2007 election campaign; the Faslane 365 nuclear blockade in 2006-2007; and the London ‘7/7’ terrorist attack in 2005. These cases generate a thick description of the metaphor by combining ethnographic participant-observation and document analysis with the analytical tools and concepts of performance analysis such as staging, scripting and body work analysis. The analysis of the empirical research highlights the complexity of the practice of political representation in an increasingly mediatised public sphere, as well as providing an experiential account of lived deliberation. In the case of the Blair-Brown handover, the thesis shows how the scripted characterisation and iterative rituals of national identity reinforce each political actor’s representative authority. This is contrasted with the more playful, ludic performance of the Scottish National Party’s election campaign based on the ‘presence’ of key actors. The thesis also shows how unconventional political actors used more visceral and embodied performance techniques to gain visibility in the public sphere. The Faslane protestors, as well as incorporating devices such as humour and music into their performance, focus on transformations of their performing bodies and use themselves as representations of resistance. This theme of representing resistance is developed in the London terror attack case where the performance enforces violent transformations not only of the political actors’ bodies and symbolically-resonant spaces but of the audience as well. The empirical cases thus provide a richly textured account of the techniques that both conventional and unconventional political actors use to insert themselves into the public sphere. In conclusion, the thesis offers a descriptive construction of the metaphor of politics-as-performance. This demonstrates its applicability to the political sphere and highlights the performative aspects of deliberation.

This dissertation argues that: (1) deliberation (bouleusis) is distinguished from theoretical thought, in so far as the former is strictly about the particulars of a given situation, while the latter is about universal concepts; and that (2) deliberation is practical only in so far as it prescribes the best option for action, that is, it prescribes practical truth, but there is no element within the deliberative soul that can initiate an action directly. With these two points in mind, I will show in Chapter One that what lets us consistently cognize the moral ‘end’, the moral first principle, is a character or emotional disposition we acquire as a result of habituation (ethismos). Having explained how the conception of ends can be determined, I provide an argument for the first thesis mentioned above, and claim in Chapter Two that deliberation is not of the ends (ta telê), but is only of the means (ta pros to telos). My argument for the second thesis will lead me to claim in Chapter Three that prohairesis, the conclusion of deliberation, is not an action. I end my argument with an investigation showing that the interpretation of Aristotelian deliberation supported in this thesis secures its justification not only in those discussions that are directly related to the nature of deliberation, but also in the context of other important discussions in Aristotle’s ethics, namely, about the possibility of acrasia (in Chapter Four) and the definition of eudaimonia (in Chapter Five). My argument will provide a better treatment and solution, than existing attempts, of the puzzles surrounding the concepts of acrasia and eudaimonia in Aristotle’s ethics.

Constitutivism is a kind of metaethical theory according to which one can explain reasons or normativity in terms of what is constitutive of agency. Any constitutivist theory makes three basic claims: (1) that some feature is constitutive of agency, (2) that one can explain reasons or normativity in its terms, and (3) that doing so has plausible first-order normative implications. I consider the paradigmatic constitutivist theories of Christine Korsgaard and J. David Velleman and the more recent variant developed by Michael Smith, and I argue that each fails adequately to justify at least two of the three basic constitutivist claims. I then argue that a constitutivist strategy can nevertheless be adapted to explain the necessary connection between normative judgment and motivation. More specifically, I argue that practical deliberation has two constitutive features. First, it aims at proceeding in a rational way from premises to conclusions. Second, it has an internal connection with motivation: barring weakness of will, people are motivated to act in accordance with their deliberative conclusions. Because a person's normative beliefs guide the course of her deliberation, and her deliberation motivates her action, a person will be motivated to act in ways that correspond to her normative beliefs, which her sincere normative judgments express. This account provides a cognitivist explanation for a phenomenon often taken to be the most important evidence for non-cognitivism or expressivism.

Abstract Håkansson, Jan (2006). Learning between policy and practice. Contextual conditions for reform activity in schools. Acta Wexionensia No 95/2006. ISSN:1404-4307, ISBN: 91-7636-510-7. Written in Swedish with a summary in English. Considerable changes have characterised the past decades’ education policy. These changes apply to all types of schools within the Swedish education system. This thesis treats issues of professional teacher development, the introduction of project work in upper secondary school as well as quality audits in the school system. While intending to problematise and intensify discussions on the school reforms’ significance for school development, the thesis focuses on the conditions for practitioners in-depth reflection and deliberative learning in relation to various development measures in school. The overall purpose is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the relation between policy and practice with respect to school staff’s learning processes, which is constituted in policy and practical contexts examined here. One intention here is to present an analysis of the learning aspects in the explicit development measures formulated in policy documents. Another intention is to analyse learning, which is rather implicitly attached to the implementation of policy. The three reform processes have been studied in a broad socio-theoretical perspective on policy and learning. Yet, inspiration was also provided by a critical action research approach. Discursive and dialectic perspectives on policy, practice and learning are significant for carrying out the empirical studies, but also for the analysis of the empirical material. The study depicts myriad and controversial relations between policy, practice and learning. With respect to professional teacher development projects in partial study A, one outcome is that the policy’s transparent character interplays with creative learning aspects both in policy and practice. Regarding the introduction of project work in upper secondary education, partial study B establishes that the unclear and implicit policy character can be related to preserving learning aspects in the official discourse, yet, it can be creative when applied in practice. The policy on quality audits in the school system as examined in partial study C can be referred to as uncommunicative with an orientation towards preserving learning aspects, while there is possibilities within local evaluation and quality audits for an orientation towards creative learning aspects. On the whole, these reform processes are part of what can be identified as hybrid integration patterns in line with communicative perspectives and perspectives on set objectives. The results in this thesis illustrate a potential for improved participation aided by extended possibilities for communication within the framework of a deliberative perspective on governing schools. It is of great significance to pay attention to this in future reforms. Keywords: communication, critical action research, deliberation, learning, policy, school reform.

Master of Science / Department of Psychological Sciences / Christopher Lake / While hiring decisions are a frequent organizational occurrence that can substantially impact the decision maker, the organization, and/or society as a whole, employees do not always make optimal hiring decisions. This failure to make optimal decisions may occur because employees do not utilize deliberative processes (e.g., systematically gathering information, evaluating choice alternatives, taking time to decide etc.). Accordingly, the goal of the present study was to propose an integrative model of some antecedents and consequences of deliberative decision making within personnel selection. Data gathered from 322 hiring managers indicated that when managers felt accountable for their hiring decisions and possessed a deliberative decision making style, they were more likely to report making hiring decisions in a deliberative manner. This use of deliberation was, in turn, associated with high quality decisions (i.e., low regret, high satisfaction, and high performance ratings of the person that was hired). The results also indicated the relationship between accountability and decision quality was mediated by deliberative processes. These findings were consistent across multiple hiring decisions. Importantly, these results did not emerge when intuitive processes/style were examined. Collectively, these results help establish the ecological validity of various theories of decision making and specify that deliberative processes are associated with high quality selection decisions. These results can be leveraged by organizations who are interested in encouraging employees to utilize deliberative processes. Given the benefits of deliberative processes, these results may also be leveraged by workers who are interested in achieving higher task performance in their jobs.

The overall aim of this thesis is to explore how evaluation can support higher education development. The thesis addresses the current use of evaluation machines (Dahler-Larsen, 2012b) in relation to the distinctive features of higher education development. Evaluation and educational change are discussed from a social constructivist perspective. Key concepts are: evaluation as a context sensitive process with the purpose of understanding and assessing the value of education (Elliott & Kushner, 2007), participation (Whitmore, 1998) and deliberation (Gutman & Thompson, 2004). The thesis rests on a collection of four articles, three of them based on data originating from a longitudinal case study. This case study explores a participative stakeholder evaluation that was employed as a strategy to support the development of an undergraduate medical programme at a Swedish university. Empirical data were gathered through a literature review, interviews with ten stakeholders, logbook notes from the evaluation and development process and lastly evaluations conducted of the study programme. By highlighting the complexity of educational work and the expectations of the medical profession, the evaluation strategy studied contributed to the creation of a qualified and nuanced development process. It also illuminated an evaluation process that is more associated with learning than with quality enhancement. The practice-near and language sensitive process supported the creation of a community of practice promoting dialogue, critical enquiry, educational conversations and enlightenment. The commitment to cooperation, dialogue and enlightenment was, however, constantly threatened by a higher education culture that is increasingly characterized by productivity and efficiency. The analysis suggests that the complex context of higher education calls for more varied evaluation strategies characterized by holistic perspectives, enlightenment and local ownership. Evaluations that provide answers to crucial questions are a prerequisite for change in higher education. Giving teachers responsibility for the process should develop both their ability to conduct educational evaluations, to work with educational development and ultimately facilitate definitions of educational quality specific to education.

This study compares different articles on aftonbladet.se and the availability of comment fields on the articles. It is not possible to comment all of them and we examined which you could and which you could not comment on.   The study’s purpose is to examine how well the comment fields on aftonbladet.se take advantage of the opportunity to create a deliberative discussion that the public may take part of. This study looks at what subject matters it is possible to comment on and if there are any statistical correlations between those subjects that you can’t.   This study analyses 250 articles on the news site aftonbladet.se with a total of eleven variables between the 26 of November and the 7 of December. The variables contained subject area, headliner and if the article mentions any political party. The study also analyses variables such as racism, religion and violence- and sex crime in relation to the comment fields.   The main result was that you could only comment on 55, 7 percent of the articles. Of the articles that concerned economics, politics, crime and accidents you could only comment on one third (36, 5 percent) and of the articles that concerned sport, entertainment and health you could comment on 81, 8 percent.   The study’s main conclusion is even if the comment fields on aftonbladet.se have the opportunity to encourage a deliberative discussion it does not take advantage of that opportunity.