Institutions, Culture, and Deliberative Ideals: A Theoretical and Empirical Inquiry.

Re-linking political philosophy with empirical political science has become a major theme in the discipline. In this regard, we propose that researchers should take a prime focus on favorable institutional and cultural contexts that can build bridges from the "ideal" to the "real". We focus on two deliberative ideals - respect and argumentative agreement - in 55 parliamentary debates in Switzerland, the United States, Germany, and Great Britain. We find that especially consensus institutions (in the form of grand coalitions or "bipartisan" arrangements) have robust effects on respect and argumentative change. Veto power, in turn, did not yield any effects, while reflective institutions perform slightly better and make a difference for respect. Consensus culture, in turn, may play some role, but respective effects are far less clear. We conclude that institutions can build bridges between philosophical ideals and the real world of politics, regardless of the cultural context. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]