Public Deliberation Consortium
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From Code to Discourse: Social Media and Linkage Mechanisms in Deliberative Systems
No full textScholars have increasingly examined less formal conceptions of public deliberation, coinciding with a shift to the deliberative systems approach. However, few have grappled with how, or how well, discussions in distributed spaces connect to one another. Those who have theorized about such “linkage” have done so in an unsatisfactorily broad manner (Parkisnon, 2016). This article addresses this gap in the context of social media by reviewing the literature on platforms’ technical features and emergent discursive forms, and considering the capacity for these to link flows of deliberation as they evolve online and approach empowered spaces. Avenues for future research are discussed
Beyond Aggregation: “The Wisdom of Crowds” Meets Dialogue in the Case Study of Shaping America’s Youth
No full textThe present interpretive case study examined how an interorganizational partnership facilitating five large-scale public dialogues on childhood obesity, held throughout the United States, carried out its commitment to engage nonexperts in solutions. Leaders of the Shaping America’s Youth collaboration, believed the wisdom of crowds is facilitated through discussion. Accordingly this study has implications for deliberative practice as it provides a heuristic for eliciting the voice of nonexperts. In particular we describe empirically grounded dialogic principles that underlay a successful participation process: voice, diversity, transparency, preparedness, and neutrality. Additionally, the study documents perceived outcomes linking dialogic process and product by identifying changes in the rules and resources available to the public in light of the problem, including local and state policy level changes, and strengthened relationships and credibility with the media and funders. Finally, the case challenges theoretical assumptions about the wisdom of crowds as simply an aggregate of individually held knowledge
Reading Between the Lines of Participation: Tenant Participation and Participatory Budgeting in Toronto Community Housing
No full textParticipatory Budgeting (PB) is currently practiced in more than a dozen of American cities. It is indicated by the White House as best practice in civic engagement and by scholars as a new wave of democratic innovation. With the enthusiastic spread of PB in the US, it is imperative to continuously integrate reflective learning to sustain and enhance its impact. In this paper, I share learning drawn form the practice of PB at the Toronto Community Housing (TCH), highlighting a host of communicative and procedural challenges, hindering the growth of collaborative partnerships among the management, staff and the tenants. I demonstrate that the stakeholders have developed differing perspectives and multiple experiences with regard to tenant participation, and in consequence, participation has been molded into a rather confusing format. The weakest link, I argue, has been a lack of deliberation on a participatory vision: what it is that PB and tenant participation must achieve
The Influence of Communication- and Organization-Related Factors on Interest in Participation in Campus Dialogic Deliberation
No full textGrounded in participatory democracy principles, deliberation is designed to foster collaborative and thoughtful decision-making communication. On college campuses, deliberation can lead to a number of individual and organizational consequences, particularly for students, who may not believe that they have a significant voice in decision-making. Although deliberation ostensibly enables students to make their voices heard, the factors that shape students’ interest in participation in such deliberation remain unclear. This study explored how communication and campus factors influence students’ interest in and perceived helpfulness of dialogic deliberation participation. This manuscript concludes with recommendations for the development of campus-based and community-oriented deliberation programs
Review of Listening for Democracy – Recognition, Representation, Reconciliation by Andrew Dobson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014).
No full textReview of Listening for Democracy – Recognition, Representation, Reconciliation by Andrew Dobson (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)
Reason, Deliberation, and Democracy in Divided Societies: Perspectives from the Jafari School of Thought
No full textIn this article I argue that because of its emphasis on the use of reason, the Jafari Islamic school of thought is not only compatible with, but even promotes certain forms of deliberative democracy. I particularly focus on how this characteristic offers a valuable conceptual tool to promote peace and justice in deeply divided societies. My argument is grounded in traditional Shia theology and history but develops a political framework embedded within contemporary political theory. I distinguish this democratic political framework from the theocratic model of Wilayat-ul-Faqih, the political system currently being applied in Iran, and argue that an emphasis on rational argumentation opens a path towards reconciliation between Islamic principles and democracy. I analyse the potential benefits of deliberative democracy for Shias in both Middle Eastern societies and the West
Deliberative Technology: A Holistic Lens for Interpreting Resources and Dynamics in Deliberation
No full textWe introduce the concept of deliberative technology as an integrative framework to encapsulate how facilitators and participants bring different resources into use in deliberative processes. It serves as a holistic lens to observe, explain, and intervene constructively in the unpredictable, emergent dynamics of deliberative processes. We developed the concept of deliberative technology inductively through ethnographic analysis of three deliberative processes. In the three cases, the deliberative processes and their results were quite different, despite common resources, policy contexts, and purposes. We articulate a typology of general types of potential resources for deliberation – methodological techniques, material objects, and conceptual frameworks – and show how they interact with the policy context and the dynamics of the facilitators and participants to produce the deliberative technologies of the three cases
Review of Deliberation across Deeply Divided Societies: Transformative Moments by Jürg Steiner, Maria Clara Jaramillo, Rousiley C. M. Maia, Simona Mameli (Cambridge U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017).
No full textReview of Deliberation across Deeply Divided Societies: Transformative Moments. by Jürg Steiner, Maria Clara Jaramillo, Rousiley C. M. Maia, Simona Mameli (Cambridge U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2017)
Mediation Styles and Participants’ Perception of Success in Consultative Councils: The case of Guadalajara, Mexico
No full textThis article entails a comparative study of municipal consultative councils in Guadalajara, Mexico, to explore the mediation styles employed by those in charge of conducting the councils’ deliberation, which I call Mediators of Deliberative Process (MDP). Through the construction of an indicator called Participants’ Perception of Success, the article evaluates the relationship between the mediators’ styles and the degree to which participants think that the consultative council (CC) has been successful in achieving its purported goals. The results suggest that 1) MDPs exert different levels of directiveness that change over the course of the mediation according to the type of decision-making under deliberation; 2) that participants have a higher perception of the CC’s success in the case where the MDP is an expert in the subject matter of the council, resorts to a more directive approach to mediation, and deliberation is more oriented towards the outcomes of the mediation; and 3) that participants perceive the CCs as successful spaces to communicate with public officials, but least successful in having an influence over public policies
Organising stakeholder workshops in research and innovation – between theory and practice
No full textThis article addresses the theory and practice of creating responsiveness among actors through deliberative dialogue processes with stakeholders from diverse institutional settings. The EU’s decision to mainstream stakeholder deliberation in research and innovation, as part of its focus on responsible research and innovation (RRI), creates a new potential for experimentation and integration of deliberative processes. The article presents a list of essential considerations for three steps in the workshop process: planning and design, workshop interaction and the gathering of conclusions. Finally, the article illustrates the challenges of applying theory to five European stakeholder workshops co-organised by the authors. The illustration highlights the difficult interaction between theory and practice. The article concludes that while theoretical perspectives can provide general guidance, practical experience is essential when dealing with the trade-offs that are an intrinsic part of organising stakeholder workshops