In this article, William Scheuerman examines Habermas's greatest contribution to democratic theory, the book published in English as Between facts and norms. It signals a "realistic" and conservative turn in his work, which denies the radical democratic commitment that marked his previous thought. In particular, Habermas incorporates Bernhard Peters's political sociology. Thus, the critical distinction between strong and weak public audiences, which Habermas brings from Nancy Fraser's reading on the concept of public sphere, joins the idea of a functional distinction of the political system, in which the center must make decisions. The influence of civil society is, in this case, always indirect and mediated.
deliberative democracy; political system; Habermas; Bernhard Peters