000			01738nam a22001457a 4500
999			_c528546 _d528546
008			241211b ||||| |||| 00| 0 eng d
100			_aTrantidis, Aris and Cowen, Nick _949473
245			_aIs public ignorance a problem? An epistemic defense of really existing democracies
260			_aPolitical Research Quarterly
300			_a77(3), Sep, 2024: p.759-771
520			_aDoes good governance require citizens to be knowledgeable of basic facts and best policy ideas? Some scholars suggest that it does, and propose disenfranchising the most ‘ignorant’ voters. In contrast, we argue, political systems are complex systems inevitably exhibiting incomplete, imperfect and asymmetric information that is dynamically generated in society from actors with diverse life experiences, antagonistic interests and often profoundly dissonant views and values, generating radical uncertainty among political elites over the consequences of their decisions. Radical uncertainty, radical dissonance and power asymmetry are inescapable properties of politics. Good performance significantly depends on how political elites navigate through radical uncertainty to handle radical dissonance. Democracy, by offering citizens equal rights to participate in politics and talk freely, both enables and compels political actors to track social feedback regarding the effects of their decisions on a diverse public, and consider it in ways that mitigate these three problems.- Reproduced https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/10659129241244715
650			_aEpistemic democracy, Radical dissonance, Complex systems, Disenfranchisement, Representation, Deliberation. _949474
773			_aPolitical Research Quarterly
942			_cAR