The public sphere forms opinion but cannot itself take binding decisions.

Evidence

However, those two requirements of the democratic process – namely, deliberation and the inclusion of all citizens – can be realized even approximately only at the level of the institutions of the state, and above all in the representative bodies of parliamentary lawmaking. This explains the essential but limited contribution that political communication in the public sphere can make to the democratic process. Its contribution is essential because it represents the sole locus where public opinion and political will are formed in a manner that in principle includes in corpore all adult citizens who are eligible to vote. … At the same time, the contribution of the political public sphere to democratic opinion and will formation is limited because, as a general rule, no collectively binding individual decisions are taken there (only in rare cases do fundamental questions have such a clear structure that they can be decided by such plebiscites). — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 17

Categorization

• DEFINE: Precisely delimits the public sphere’s function: it is the inclusive locus of will-formation but, unlike the state, never issues collectively binding decisions.
• XREF: Directly revisited thesis of the 1962 Structural Transformation — the essential-but-limited franchise of the public sphere is the structural spine of both works. — connects to: Comment without political power does not constitute a real decision-making voice — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 567