Deliberative and Non-deliberative Negotiations

The classic statements of deliberative democratic theory defined deliberation in opposition to negotiation. As deliberative theory has developed, that opposition has weakened. The normative terms of that relation, however, are as yet unclear. Building on work reformulating the regulative ideals for deliberative democracy (Mansbridge et al. forthcoming), this paper argues that four previously excluded forms of agreement are themselves "deliberative." One is simple convergence on an outcome. The other three--incompletely theorized agreements, integrative negotiation, and fully cooperative distributive negotiation--are forms of deliberative negotiation. The "regulative ideals" of these forms of negotiation, that is, the standards to which we should aspire in their practice even when full achievement is impossible, meet all the criteria for deliberation. This paper aims at reformulating the regulative ideal of deliberative democracy to incorporate these forms of agreement.