When deliberative democratic theory considers grassroots civic participation, its main concern has been designed civic forums sometimes called "mini-publics. " However, this article contends that both social movements and the intimate sphere also matter when we consider grassroots participation in deliberative democracy. With reference to the recently elaborated idea of deliberative systems, this article first argues that social movements and the intimate sphere can be examined as parts of a deliberative system as a whole in terms of the macro-deliberative effect of micro-non-deliberative actions, and second, that each of them should be understood as a deliberative system in itself because both of them can create decision-making. Finally, this article proposes the idea of "nested deliberative systems" in order to indicate that a unit is at the same time both a part of a macro deliberative system and a deliberative system in itself.

Japan and China offer two interesting case studies of Asian “deliberative turn” and represent different potential paths to deliberative democracy in Asia. Japanese public deliberation promises to deepen democracy within a liberal democratic system, while Chinese deliberative processes may have the potential to introduce democratic moments into an authoritarian system. In this chapter we aim to develop an understanding of how two key East Asian contexts, Japan and China, are developing deliberative institutions. We examine their cultural, institutional, and historical features, discuss the driving forces, characteristics, and patterns of deliberative institutions, and investigate the impact of Confucian culture. To apply the systematic approach we also examine the potential for deliberative capacity building, as well as assess the prospects for deliberative democracy in East Asia.

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