Theorists argue that deliberation promotes enlightenment and consensus, but scholars do not know how deliberation affects policy opinions. Using the deliberative democracy and public opinion literatures as a guide, I develop a theory of opinion updating where citizens who deliberate revise their prior beliefs, particularly when they encounter consensual messages. A key aspect of this model is t...

The author discusses the theory of liberal nationalism of the prominent Canadian political theorist Will Kymlicka. According to Kymlicka, liberal nationalism is a necessary ingredient of developed liberal democracy, because social justice, deliberative democracy and individual freedom are most efficiently achieved within national political units. Kymlicka defines his theory as liberal culturali...