Besel, Richard

English

DigitalCommons@CalPoly

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             124Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of EcopedagogyVolume 4, No. 2 (2008)Book ReviewDeliberative Environmental Politics: Democracy andEcological RationalityBy Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett, 2005, The MITPress, ISBN 0-262-0258706, 276 pagesRichard D. Besel Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett begin their book Deliberative Environmental Politics:Democracy and Ecological Rationality with a review of the scathing indictments that have been made by environmentalists against a view of democracy typically described as “interest-group liberalism.” Charged with using language that is “stunted and shallow” (p. 1) and being “virtually obsolete” for the environmental movement (p. 2), how can democracy be rehabilitatedfrom its less than stellar performance in handling the world’s most pressing problems? In otherwords, is green democracy theoretically possible? For Baber and Bartlett, the answer is yes.Trained in the fields of Public Policy Studies and Political Science, respectively, Baberand Bartlett attempt to bridge the gap between theory and practice that has plaguedenvironmental politics for so long. For these authors, democracy must take a deliberative turn ifit is to avoid being relegated to the trash bin of useless ideas. In chapters one and two, Baber andBartlett follow others in their respective fields who believe a deliberative approach is “the onlyway to overcome the failings of interest-group liberalism,” contending deliberative democracy has the potential to produce better environmental policy decisions (p. 6). Although Baber and Bartlett acknowledge that “deliberative democracy” is difficult to define, they argue it is a schoolof political thought that presumes the essence of democracy is “deliberation rather than voting,interest aggregation, or rights” (p. 6). For deliberation to work, participants must also bepolitically equal and engage one another in the “weighing, acceptance, or rejection of reasons”(p. 6). Of course, the authors also attempt to argue that Horkheimer and Adorno’s observationsabout instrumental reason in The Dialectic of Enlightenment can be addressed by deliberativedemocracy scholars. In chapter three, realizing different conceptions of deliberative democracy have drastically divergent assumptions, Baber and Bartlett wisely take three models ofdeliberative democracy as their “points of departure.”In chapters four, five and six, Baber and Bartlett explore the ideas of deliberativedemocracy as it has been articulated by John Rawls, Jürgen Habermas, and thinkers such as AmyGutmann, Dennis Thompson, and James Bohman. Rawls represents the “public reason”approach to deliberative democracy, Habermas the “ideal discourse” perspective, and Gutmann,Thompson, and Bohman the “full liberalism” version. It is in these chapters that the authors areat their best. Baber and Bartlett tackle complicated material and make it accessible to readersRichard D. Besel is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies Department atCalifornia Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. His primary research interests focuson Rhetorical Studies, Science Studies, Environmental Communication, and PoliticalCommunication. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.ISSN 1941-0948 doi: 10.3903/gtp.2008.2.14                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             125Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of EcopedagogyVolume 4, No. 2 (2008)who may be encountering it for the first time. Rawls’s “initial position” and Habermas’s “publicsphere” are carefully and concisely addressed. Attempts to join Rawlsian and Habermasian ideasin “full liberalism” are also explained. Based on these three points of departure, Baber andBartlett go on to argue how deliberative democracy has implications for institutions (chapterseven), expertise (chapter eight), citizenship (chapter nine), and social movements (chapter ten).In their attempts to explore the implications of deliberative democracy the authors encounter anumber of problems.In chapter eight, Baber and Bartlett explore the role of rhetoric in deliberative democracy,claiming that they somehow redeem it. After noting how deliberative democracy scholars likeRawls and Habermas view rhetoric as being “the negation of reasoning” and a concept that can only “distort the deliberative process” (p. 143), the authors attempt to illustrate how “rhetoric and rationality cannot be disentangled by complex human beings who are always simultaneouslyrational and emotional” (p. 144). Rhetoric “poses difficult challenges to deliberative democracy,”but the authors position themselves as the ones who “recovered” and “rescued” rhetoric (p. 162).A more accurate observation would be to say Baber and Bartlett are engaging rhetoric in a wayrhetoricians would find acceptable. Baber and Bartlett’s claim that they “rescue” rhetoric isoverstating their contribution.Another limitation of this work appears in chapter eleven, where the authors take a stepback from specific theories of deliberative democracy to offer a bird’s eye view of their project.Turning to Bacon, Baber and Bartlett argue that the Enlightenment still holds promise forenvironmental politics if we can avoid the Idols of the Mind. From the start Baber and Bartlettwere honest about their faith in Enlightenment ideals and chapter eleven further illustrates theirlevel of their devotion. After all, they conclude, “deliberative democracy is (at least in part) an effort to realize more fully the dreams of the Enlightenment” (p. 7). However, this book could have done more to engage authors who have been critical of the Enlightenment project. This lack of engagement may make some readers with postmodern affinities a bit uncomfortable.In their final chapter, the authors conclude with an optimistic view of future politics.Turning to three cases, Baber and Bartlett attempt to illustrate what deliberative approaches to decision-making would emphasize in real situations. In one example, the authors describe anarticle written by Thomas Friedman following the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Friedman describes a conversation he observed involving a Pakistani friendand the friend’s children. Apparently, the children returned home after hearing rumors that the9/11 attacks were part of an elaborate Jewish conspiracy. The father engages his children to dispel the myth by giving them all of the practical reasons this was not a possibility. Baber and Bartlett offer this story as an example of how careful critical engagement has the potential to steer us toward proper understandings of the world. The authors also turn to land-use planning inthe Pacific Northwest and polling in Connecticut to illustrate their point. However, theseexamples are minimally engaged. All three examples occupy approximately six pages. Readerswho expect to see deliberative democracy in action will find this book’s use of examples and textual analysis disappointing.Overall, my reaction to Baber and Bartlett’s book is generally positive. These authorshave written a book that does an excellent job of explaining and engaging three perspectives ondeliberative democracy, and I would still say that for anyone who wishes to find out more aboutdeliberative environmental politics, the first six chapters are definitely worth reading. However,for readers who are interested in the rhetorical components of deliberative democracy, theISSN 1941-0948 doi: 10.3903/gtp.2008.2.14                                         126Green Theory & Praxis: The Journal of EcopedagogyVolume 4, No. 2 (2008)postmodern response to Enlightenment ideals, or how political theories are put into actualpractice, this book will be of limited use.ISSN 1941-0948 doi: 10.3903/gtp.2008.2.14

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Book Review: \u3cem\u3eDeliberative Environmental Politics: Democracy and Ecological Rationality\u3c/em\u3e by Walter F. Baber and Robert V. Bartlett

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