Academic developers work in a political space between university decision-makers and the academic community, a gap that Marginson and Considine (2000) showed is becoming increasingly wide. In this essay, the author suggests that academic developers might learn from the notion of "deliberation", a notion that has been used extensively in recent political theory. Although deliberation is a demanding form of communication that is different from everyday communicative practices, it offers significant benefits to those who make decisions on the behalf of others. Deliberation gathers together relevant information and provides opportunities for individuals to work through arguments for and against an issue until they can decide to support or reject the outcome. The quality of the deliberative space in which academic developers work will be determined by the degree to which they and their colleagues participate in public processes of discussion and deliberation that in turn require attention to political events in the world beyond the universities' walls.