What Is Deliberation?
Western democratic thought has two threads. One has developed the institutions, rules and procedures—the machinery—of democracy: written constitutions, one person/one vote, political parties, free and fair elections, representative government, checks and balances, independent judiciary, etc.

The other has roots in the citizens’ forums of ancient Greece and Rome and is present in communities today where citizens have come together to talk about their problems and their plans for the future.

The second we call “deliberative democracy” -- or the process, “deliberation” -- because it builds on the capacities of citizens to think, talk and work together in their common interests. Deliberation is designed to produce a change in the way people habitually interact with each other over public issues.

How Does Deliberation Work?
People can't act together, either to set directions or build relationships to work together as citizens, without making choices, or decisions. This is always difficult because choices about what kind of community or country we want to have force us to deal with deal with the pushes and pulls of the diverse priorities that we hold valuable.

When people have different concerns, this "choice work' can really only be handled effectively in a deliberative dialogue. Deliberation is a particular form of reasoning and talking together in which we weigh carefully the costs and consequences of our various options for action, in the context of the views of others. Public forums, if they are to lead to sound decisions around community issues, have to be deliberative.

What Can Deliberation Do For Me?
Deliberation tends to change people’s first opinions about an issue. Why? Because it involves people listening to each other. People discover what they share, despite what they don't agree about. Deliberative forums create more shared and reflective public judgment about how we should act, public knowledge (a deeper understanding of what people feel they need and why) and a public voice (a shared sense of concern). As this shared sense of concern evolves, people develop the capacity to move from "me" to "we" as they grapple with public issues.

Deliberation helps people find connections among their varied purposes and a shared sense of direction. Though not complete agreement or consensus, this provides common ground for action. Thus, deliberative forums create a basis for public action, which is often a rich array of citizen-to-citizen actions that are mutually reinforcing, or complementary, because they serve compatible purposes.