Deliberative Democracy and the Environment

Can our political institutions be more sensitive to environmental values? Why should greens be interested in deliberative democracy? Contemporary democracies are frequently criticized for failing to respond adequately to environmental problems and our political institutions are often charged with misrepresenting environmental values in decision-making processes. In this innovative volume, Graham Smith argues that the enhancement and institutionalisation of democratic deliberation will improve reflection on the wide range of environmental values that citizens hold. Drawing on theories of deliberative democracy, Smith argues that institutions need to be restructured in order to promote democratic dialogue and reflection on the plurality of environmental values. Deliberative Democracy and the Environment makes an important contribution to our understanding of the relationship between democratic and green political theory. Drawing on evidence from Europe and the United States, it systematically engages with questions of institutional design. This book will be of interest to students and researchers in both environmental and democratic politics.

Author Biography

Graham Smith is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Southampton. He is the co-author of Politics and the Environment and has published a numbers of essays on democratic and green political theory.