Public Deliberation Consortium
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Teaching, Practicing, and Performing Deliberative Democracy in the Classroom
No full textInspired by the Citizens Initiative Review Process in Oregon, Healthy Democracy, and the Living Voters Guide, this paper proposes that undergraduate educators should teach, practice, and perform deliberative democracy in the classroom. This paper will identify deliberation as a tool for resolving difficulties in current democratic practices and propose a specific classroom activity to teach deliberative skills. The sample undergraduate activity involves student research, local political leaders coming to speak and answer questions, and in-class deliberations. Using survey data collected from the students/participants, it was found that the activity had positive learning outcomes for students. Students reported feeling more knowledgeable and informed about the democratic process the ballot measure on which students deliberated (Missouri’s Proposition E from the 2012 election). Results also suggest that this activity allowed for students to learn about and gain confidence in argumentation, advocacy, deliberation, and democracy
Contemporary Trends Of Deliberative Research: Synthesizing A New Study Agenda
No full textDeliberation is among the most widely acknowledged figures of thought in social theory. Taking the growing interest in the research conducted around deliberative democracy as an initial position, this paper seeks to provide an overview of recent predispositions and paradigm shifts of approaches taken towards the analysis of real-world discourses. Therefore, as a first step three different – nevertheless correlating – trends of deliberative research are identified: (1) an “empirical turn” and an effort to test and “falsify” assumptions of deliberative theories, (2) the consideration of certain epistemic dimensions of deliberative democracy and (3) the conceptual opening towards not fully rationalizable modes of communication. Based on those trends, the task is to make suggestions of how to incorporate those predispositions and paradigm shifts fruitfully into future research designs
Citizens As Analysts Redux: Revisiting Aaron Wildavsky on Public Participation
No full textIn 1979, Aaron Wildavsky published a lengthy paper called “Citizens as Analysts” in which he developed his thoughts on public participation. For today’s scholars and practitioners from the health sector, this paper is intriguing and attractive. It is intriguing because the author is clear that the ultimate goal of public participation is not the exercise of direct political authority, but instead the development of better policies and more sustainable institutions. While people don’t need to participate in every single decision to comply, they need to feel that overall, the process has been designed to take their interests into account. Wildavsky’s paper is also attractive because its author dealt upfront with the normative aspects of public participation research. In his view, public participation is one example of a teleological social process, defined by its ends rather than by its initial conditions. Contrary to some current approaches to public deliberation, we are invited to pay more attention to the outcomes of the process than to the process itself
What’s in a name? The search for ‘common ground’ in Kenora, Northwestern Ontario
No full textAbstract
Kenora is a small city in northwestern Ontario, Canada. No longer a forestry centre of note, Kenora plans to develop a more diversified and sustainable economy, driven by local needs and local decision-making. Yet any collective desire to enjoy a prosperous future is set against a backdrop of historical conflict, discrimination and misunderstanding among local First Nation, Métis and Euro-Canadian populations. Using a range of qualitative data, we discuss whether the philosophy and vision behind common ground, a term used to front a collaborative land management initiative close to the city centre, has gained currency among the wider public. Charting the trajectory of its usage over the last decade, we discuss whether the powerful rhetoric invoked by common ground will likely be reflected in the forging of more equitable and productive relations among the multiple cultural groups that define life in this region
Deliberative Television: Encouraging Substantive, Citizen-Driven News
No full textWith Americans’ confidence in the news media dwindling, the quality of programming declining, and audiences turning elsewhere, the American news media is at a crossroads. We argue that news outlets should consider a new form of deliberation-based programming for local news coverage as a means of responding to these problems. As a basis for the programming, we build on public journalism (Rosen & Merritt, 1994) and deliberative citizen panels (Knobloch, Gastil, Reedy, & Walsh, 2013). By engaging citizens in the production of news, media outlets not only stand to gain viewers by increasing the quality of their issue coverage, but they also could secure their claim as a public institution providing a valuable public good. We urge media outlets to consider turning to citizen panels to determine which issues are salient and to engage in structured deliberations about those issues, which can be captured and built into content packages for use in news programming. In so doing, news outlets can help activate viewers by positioning them not as passive consumers but as engaged citizens prepared for public deliberation
Public Participation, Mayoral Control, and the New York City Public School System
No full textIn this article, I utilize the case of New York City to assess the role and influence of public-participation mechanisms operating in large urban public school systems under mayoral control. I find that the public-participation mechanisms operating under New York City’s mayor-controlled school system can produce some policy and administrative changes despite their lack of formal statutory powers. Their ability to produce such changes depends on several factors, including a citizen and administrative ability and willingness to identify and utilize opportunities for collaboration, the presence of a culture of civic engagement within local communities, and the political values reflected in formal policy advisories
New Ideas on Public Deliberation from Young Scholars. Introduction: Innovations in Deliberative Electoral Designs
No full textIn this introduction, we discuss the importance of innovation in advancing deliberative democratic theory and practice. Prior examples reviewed include the Citizens’ Jury, the Deliberative Poll, the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly, and particularly the Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review. We then preview the five essays that make up this special section of the Journal of Public Deliberation, which collects writings by graduate students who participated in a summer seminar on deliberative democracy. These essays propose ways to advance electoral deliberation in the U.S. and Guam, in classrooms, newsrooms, meeting rooms, and online discussions. The innovations suggest new ways to think about lobbying, teaching, reporting, campaigning, and voting, and many combine different deliberative mechanisms to maximize the potential for public talk to create a more inclusive and influential deliberative politics
Deliberative Democracy and Illiteracy: Exploring a Theoretical Gap
No full textIn this essay, I demonstrate that literacy is not necessary for participation in a deliberative democracy. First, I examine the literature on the subject and demonstrate how the necessity of literacy has either been assumed or left entirely unquestioned. I argue that this is a significant gap with major conceptual and normative significance since several democracies have very high illiteracy rates. I reflect upon the overwhelming focus on ideal theory as a method of conceptual and normative analysis, and its inability to provide guidance in cases that depart radically from the ideal- but which are a normal feature of political life in many societies. Next, I examine hypothetical reasons that might be offered against the possibility of illiterate citizens participating meaningfully in the deliberative democratic process. I discuss what it means to be informed, by examining the informational requirements that central principles of deliberative democracy impose upon citizens. This is not an exhaustive account of what it means to be politically informed, but I hope that demonstrating how citizens can satisfy these necessary conditions is instructive in highlighting biases implicit in the objections to my thesis. I highlight the role of non-literary sources and informal political conversation and argue that, while deliberative democrats are correct in criticizing them for their weak deliberative quality, they ought to recognize the informational role that such sites play in the deliberative system. Finally, I end by examining how scepticism towards the possibility of deliberative democracy in semi-literate societies is rooted in biases against non-western experiences of the public sphere and political communication. Deliberative democracy can operate, imperfectly perhaps, even in such unfavourable conditions
Participatory and Deliberative Practices in Health: Meanings, Distinctions, and Implications for Health Equity
No full textThis paper examines the meanings of and distinctions between public deliberation and a tradition of participation in health committed to community empowerment, collective action, and social justice and their implications for health equity. Although participation (as empowerment) and public deliberation share fundamental democratic ideals, these democratic practices differ in basic respects. Whereas participation in health typically seeks to engage marginalized and minority groups in planning, research, and action on the social determinants of health and wellbeing, deliberative processes seek to create the conditions for reasoned and respectful public dialogue that can lead to well considered collective judgments about important social issues. Whereas the ultimate aim of participation in health is a redistribution of resources and power that will advance health equity and social justice, the ultimate aim of deliberation is a fair process that yields public decisions all will view as legitimate. Proponents of public deliberation often contend that decision-making subject to democratic deliberation will result in (more) just outcomes; yet, public deliberation has been criticized precisely for its inability to include marginalized perspectives and to challenge status quo institutional arrangements and power relations. This analysis concludes that the use of public deliberation to advance health equity and social justice in the U.S. context holds promise despite serious challenges
Plebiscite Deliberations: Self-Determination & Deliberative Democracy in Guam
No full textIn 2015, Guåhan (Guam), an unincorporated territory of the United States, could hold a plebiscite to determine its political status. This self-determination plebiscite will give the electorate the opportunity to deliberate on one of three internationally recognized political plans for the future: Statehood, Independence or Free Association. This monumental event has received little attention in the United States, with little media coverage appearing despite the recent self-determination plebiscites held around the world (e.g., Puerto Rico and the Falkland Islands). Nonetheless, the U.S. has a large stake in this election process. The people of Guåhan are U.S. citizens, yet are simultaneously denied full voting rights in U.S. presidential elections. Thus, the opportunities for political participation on Guåhan are based upon a dependent relationship with the U.S. Moments of political participation in Guåhan occur primarily through actions that both depend upon and reinforce communicative channels directed against the U.S. nation-state. The phenomenon of political dependency creates a complex situation for public deliberation amongst the Guåhan electorate. Even in Guåhan there is much confusion, contradiction, and deliberation concerning plebiscite eligibility and the ballot initiatives on the political status options. Thus, we propose a process of public deliberation, facilitated through educational programming, to analyze the arguments for each plebiscite plan and encourage even wider public deliberation. Drawing from a rich international tradition of school debate and deliberative voting guide reforms, we develop a detailed proposal aimed at both increasing voter education and turnout in the Pacific. Our proposal also stresses the pressing need for more communication scholarship on the political connections between the U.S. and Guåhan