Democratic Rhetoric and The Duty of Deliberation, Vol. 8 - 2001, No. 3

Reconciling the Form of Public Speech in Post-TRC South Africa

Erik Doxtader, pages: 23-34[open access]

Public speech contains the potential for transition. This essay is addressed to the contemporary debate in South Africa over how to define the form of public deliberation. As it presents the question of how collective deliberation moves between modes of opposition and agreement, this controversy both extends and challenges the logic of reconciliation. It is a debate about debate that marks a third phase of transition, a time in which the relationship between unity and difference comes to define the character (ethos) of politics.

Full text PDF | Export Reference | Link to this article