The article - based upon a theoretical research - proposes a research agenda aimed at comparing activist practices to the actions that take place in state-based forums where citizens are allowed to take part in public decisions. It emphasizes the relevance of measuring such practices under the criteria of its potential to establish new debates in thematic public spheres, and also to promote interlocutions that reach compatibility with deliberative democracy´s normative ideal. The article specific goal is: i) summarize the debate about the relationship between activism and deliberative democracy, following Iris Young´s theory, and; ii) present an exemplificative set of researching problems and methodological alternatives (such as the use of DQI, comparisons of media visibility, etc.) that could engender a researching agenda able to integrate the activism´s dimension to the empirical studies about deliberation in Brazil.
deliberative democracy; activism; public sphere; political inclusion