Discourse, Deliberation and Difference in an Authoritarian Public Sphere

Abstract

This article explores how discourse, deliberation and difference – classically advanced by Jurgen Habermas and Iris Marion Young within a Western democratic context – functions in an authoritarian environment, with special reference to China. The article suggests why authoritarian discourse and deliberation is more limited than its Western democratic counterparts. It further suggests that the incorporation of difference into authoritarian discourse and deliberation is difficult due to the inherent tensions between the ‘Other’ and the ruling elite in authoritarian polities. Nevertheless, these constraints do not invalidate the notion that discourse and deliberation is theoretically possible and has a practical function in authoritarian regimes.