Should citizens be encouraged to deliberate about matters of politics? A review of several
literatures about group discussion yields a mixed prognosis for citizen deliberation. Group discussion sometimes meets the expectations of deliberative theorists, other times falls short. Deliberators can, as theorists wish, conduct themselves with empathy for others, equality, and open- mindedness. But attempts to deliberate can also backfire. Social dynamics can often account both for discussions that appear deliberative and for those that clearly fail to meet deliberative criteria.