Deliberative Machines in Techno-Political Arrangements

Abstract

This chapter explores the theoretical consequences of a conception of deliberative devices as a technical mediation, and more specifically how it helps to redraw the frontiers of grassroots participation. To understand the position of technology in deliberation, it is vital to appreciate how the device itself structures the distribution of opportunities for citizens to speak up. The existence of “deliberative machines” gives them a tribunal and a space for interaction that would be difficult to find in real world arenas of public debate. This chapter’s theoretical frame is inspired by the French philosophers Foucauld and Deleuze and will question the nature of these “deliberative machines”. This chapter will propose to consider them as symptoms of transition between two types of setups, in a context of conflict between conceptions of representation and participation in reflexive democracies.