Reinvigorating Deliberative Democracy: A Narrative Review toward a Sustainable Policy Paradigm

HRMARS - Democracy remains a dominant governance framework, shaping political participation, leadership selection, and public policy formulation worldwide. Despite its normative appeal, democratic governance continues to face persistent challenges in producing ethical, inclusive, and sustainable public policies, particularly in pluralistic and rapidly evolving societies. This study conducts a narrative review of scholarly literature on democracy and sustainable policy to examine how democratic principles such as participation, representation, deliberation, and accountability facilitate or constrain sustainability-oriented governance. Guided by an interpretivist paradigm and a qualitative design, the review analyses books and peer-reviewed journal articles identified through thematic keyword searches and snowball sampling. The findings indicate that while democracy enhances legitimacy, transparency, and citizen engagement in policymaking, it is often undermined by short-term electoral incentives, majoritarian dominance, policy volatility, and ethical deficits within leadership and institutions. The review further highlights deliberative democracy as a promising pathway to strengthen democratic capacity for sustainable policymaking through inclusive dialogue, evidence-based decision-making, and institutional continuity. This study contributes by synthesising theoretical and empirical insights and proposing directions for rethinking democratic governance toward more sustainable policy paradigms.