New article by Juliette Roussin titled “Délibérer par voie de presse : Condorcet et l’indépendance des voix” published in the journal Lumières.

Abstract

An advocate of universal suffrage and representative government, Condorcet was not in favor of letting assembly members deliberate before voting. His jury theorem shows that the presence of parties or factions reduces the number of independent votes and thereby the chances of a collective decision reaching the truth. This article suggests, however, that Condorcet feared not the deliberative exchange of reasons but the hijacking of such an exchange in a discursive context defined by orality and immediacy. Condorcet thus called for the development of written deliberation, through books and newspapers, as a means of contributing to informed democratic decision-making.