Deliberative Democracy Consortium
given by Wendy Willis, Frontiers of Democracy 2017 When we imagine loneliness—or at least I when I imagine it—I think of an elderly woman, a widow, maybe, living alone in her one-bedroom apartment, nibbling on her baked potato and waiting for Sunday afternoon when her son will call. I imagine her washing her dish, reading […]
Martin Carcasson, Colorado State University There certainly seems to have been a resurgence in the traditional “citizens can’t handle democracy” argument lately, the most recent coming from Lee Drutman’s Vox article. It can be frustrating how commentators like Drutman often assume that those of us working on improving our democracy by focusing on improving public […]
By Will Friedman, Public Agenda What does it mean, this chaotic, disturbing, unpredictable electoral season? We’ll know more after the dust has settled, but we can’t afford to wait to make our best guess. We need a working theory to orient ourselves as we seek to minimize damage and prescribe a path […]
In recent days, a vigorous argument has broken out about the role of the public in strengthening the democratic fabric of the United States. Last summer, Jonathan Rauch provocatively argued in the pages of The Atlantic that we need to strengthen the role of political intermediaries and institutions (read: parties and other political professionals) rather […]
By Jessie Conover, Healthy Democracy Lee Drutman of the New America Foundation, writing on Vox.com’s Polyarchy blog, makes a bold statement: more public participation isn’t the answer to our political woes because the reasonable, civically-minded voter is a myth. This is the latest in a trend of articles analyzing American politics and the role of […]
“It takes two to speak the truth – one to speak and another to hear.” ~Henry David Thoreau It was the kind of dinner party I dream of. There were candles. And flowers. There was wine. And falafel and tabbouleh and kabobs from the legendary Nicholas Restaurant. And most importantly: nine super-smart people—each of them […]
How do practitioners communicate effectively and ethically to decision makers, stakeholders, journalists, and community members who do not participate in our forums? This is the challenge of publicity.
In March 2012, Elliot Shuford of the Oregon Citizens’ Initiative Review participated in a colloquium on deliberative democracy organized by the Participatory Governance Initiative of Arizona State University.
Take note, fellow deliberationistas. The value of deliberation has become more widely apparent, finding its way into its first rallying cry.