02/20/2017 Colloquium Series - Susan Williams: “Dialogic Democracy, Feminist Theory, and Women’s Participation in Constitution-Making”

The paper describes and analyzes women’s participation in the recent constitutional amendment process in Liberia and argues that a feminist, dialogic model best captures the lessons learned from this experience. The proposed model borrows from dialogic democracy theory, as reinterpreted by feminist scholars like Jane Mansbridge, Iris Marion Young, and Nancy Fraser. The model also focuses on two primary modifications of dialogic democracy: (1) adopting a systemic perspective on the dialogue and (2) expanding and deepening the conception(s) of political representation. The goal of the paper is to develop a theoretical framework that can be used to design participatory mechanisms in constitution-making that will be more inclusive of women and other marginalized groups.