Education for deliberative democracy through the long-term view

Abstract

This article argues that conceptualization through the long-term view strengthens the case for education for deliberative democracy. This is due to two key factors. First, education for deliberative democracy has novel potential in helping curb the negative effects of political polarization, which, when analyzed through longtermism, can be identified as an important existential risk factor. Second, education for deliberative democracy enables societies to defuse the threat of a value lock-in, and in doing so to keep their cognitive space open to enable increased flexibility in dealing with new challenges that will arise in the future. Consequently, this article further argues that education for deliberative democracy as an education initiative can be normatively justified but acknowledges that there are still theoretical and practical hurdles to overcome, and thus calls for more research into developing a mature, pedagogically sound program of education for deliberative democracy.