Either seen as a “new spirit” (Blondiaux and Sintomer 2002) – following Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello’s “new spirit of capitalism” (Boltanski and Chiapello 1999) – or as a “new instrument” (Lascoumes and Le Galès 2004) of public action and public policy making, modern democracies are more and more resorting to public discussion and deliberation to accompany decision making processes. Legitima...