Juggling Values and Talking Politics

This insightful book presents a fresh approach to debate and decision making in liberal democracies. Linda Courtenay Botterill explores the significance of personal values and value trade-offs in politics and policy, underlining the importance of more civil and constructive democratic processes.Chapters examine liberal democracies on the basis of a values-persuasive perspective, anchored in a psychological finding that there is a finite number of human values that are shared by all. Botterill assesses how democratic debate arises from different perceptions of the ‘good society’ and how it should be achieved, highlighting that these differences are values-based as political choices are about what is ‘right’. She also argues that democratic choices are defined by persuasion, demonstrating that politics is constructed through language. Drawing on interdisciplinary insights from political science, psychology, political communication and rhetoric studies, the book analyses political debate from the perspective of common ground, rather than division.Written in a clear and accessible manner, Juggling Values and Talking Politics is a vital resource for scholars and students of political science, public policy and political psychology. Its focus on value-centred policy issues also makes this prime reading for policy-makers, politicians and political staffers.