Abstract
The central goal of this article is to advance the theoretical debate about the relationship between protest actions and public deliberation, problematizing a recent conception that advocates for an analytical conciliation between actions and deliberation and that understands protest as part of the deliberative process. The main conclusion is that theoretical approximation between protest and deliberation is problematic for two main reasons: i) it excessively stretches the concept of deliberation, taking away much of its explanatory power and ii) it eliminates the cleavage between disruptive politics and conventional politics. In this sense, the text seeks to give continuity to a theme that has gained increasing attention from theorists in the deliberative school, questioning what the best way is to think about the relationship between deliberative practices and protest actions.
public deliberation; protest; activism; public sphere; deliberative theory