Among the main issues that have been making their presence felt in contemporary political theory of recent years are the themes of deliberation, community and communication. However, what the "new" debates on deliberative democracy, communitarianism and communication theory do not make clear is the fact that the "novelty" that they represent had already been enunciated in early twentieth century pragmatist theory, and in John Dewey's writings in particular. In essence, during the first few years of this century Dewey elaborated a consistent normative political theory whose principal focus was the issue of democracy. This would be of no particular relevance if Dewey's democratic theory did not actually develop a normative conception of participatory or deliberative democracy that is very similar to that of recent tendencies and exponents of contemporary democratic theory. Through reading Dewey and some of his commentators, we can identify concepts of "radical", "procedural" and "deliberative" democracy that resonate strongly with themes of community, participation, communication, public space and education. Thus, the goal of this article is to revisit Dewey's thought, showing his vanguard relation to contemporary political theory and pointing to the relevance of his contribution for current debates within democratic theory.
democracy; the "common man"; democratic ideas; John Dewey