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The making of society is the finding of common meanings and directions.Raymond Williams 1 Here I believe one's point of reference should not be to the great model of language (langue) and signs, but to that of war and battle. The history which bears and determines us has the form of a war rather than that of a language: relations of power, not relations of meaning.

The twenty-first century has brought a renewed interest in democratic theory and practices, creating a complicated relationship between time-honoured democratic traditions and new forms of political participation. Reflecting on this interplay between tradition and innovation, Aletta J. Norval offers fresh insights into the global complexities of the formation of democratic subjectivity, the difficult emergence and articulation of political claims, the constitution of democratic relations between citizens and the deepening of our democratic imagination. Aversive Democracy draws inspiration from a critical engagement with deliberative and post-structuralist models of democracy, whilst offering a distinctive reading inspired by contemporary work on the later Wittgenstein. This is a creative and insightful work which reorients democratic theory, elucidating the character of the commitments we engage in when we participate in democratic life together.

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Scholars have sought to establish a link between sustainability and deliberative democracy. Some suggest that citizens' juries can realise this link, especially since they encourage a deeper form of democratic participation. However, we argue that there remain important problems. We therefore propose an open citizens' jury model as an alternative, based on key principles drawn from democratic theory.Deliberative democracy is often proposed as conducive to the achievement of environmental sustainability (