‘Deliberative democracy’…is this OUR democracy?
Avaaz Petition to China – stand with Burmese Protesters
October 2, 2007Spect-ACTORS As Citizens – Practising Democracy
October 3, 2007Today people are realising that the traditional ‘them’ and ‘us’ relationship between citizens and government is inadequate for solving public problems. The usual avenues for ‘consultative decision-making’ often waste public resources, create unproductive conflict, and fail to tap citizen potential.
So HOW can the public and private sectors work together more democratically and more effectively in tackling ‘people, planet, profit’ needs for sustainable development? Thanks to the American Study Circles‘ blog Democracyspace.org I found www.deliberative-democracy.net/ which gave me a really succinct overview of the concept. Read on…it’s great.
What is ‘deliberation’?
Deliberation is essentially community-wide dialogue, an approach to decision-making in which:
- citizens consider relevant facts from multiple points of view,
- converse with one another to think critically about options before them,
- enlarge their perspectives, opinions, and understandings.
What is ‘deliberative democracy’?
Deliberative democracy includes people of all races, classes, ages and geographies in discussion that directly affects public decisions. It strengthens citizen voices in governance.
The result? Citizens influence – and can see the result of their influence on – the policy and resource decisions that affect their daily lives and their future.
Why is deliberation important?
Public deliberation results in superior public education leading to better policies. There is increased public trust and reduced conflict when policy moves to implementation.
How does deliberation happen?
Working in groups as small as ten or twelve to larger groups of 3,000 or more, deliberative democracy simply requires that:
- representative groups of ordinary citizens have access to balanced and accurate information,
- sufficient time to explore the intricacies of issues through discussion,
- their conclusions are connected to the governing process.
Who is involved in this work?
- Community engagement consultants,
- dialogue specialists,
- conflict resolution practitioners,
- academics from a wide range of disciplines.
Though they come from diverse backgrounds, all advocate deliberative democracy as an approach to public policy-making and problem-solving.
Leaders involved in community-wide dialogue are extremely diverse and largely disconnected from one another. They include:
- mayors and city managers,
- school administrators,
- neighborhood activists,
- government officers,
- community organizers.
They are focused mainly on involving citizens in a particular issue or decision; they may not even think of their work as civic or democratic.
Where is deliberation being used?
Deliberation projects – including both temporary organizing efforts and permanent citizen structures – are growing rapidly in North America, Western Europe, and many other parts of the world. Some efforts are exploring the enormous capacity of the Internet to distribute information, sustain far-flung networks, and make all kinds of expertise accessible to ordinary people.
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Democracy 2.0 Declaration – Mobilize.org
On Thursday, October 4th, 2007, 50 youth leaders worked together at the Democracy 2.0 Summit in Washington D.C. The Summit, a national movement instituted by Mobilize.org, is a way to bring attention to the ideas that America’s youth has to offer. Democracy 2.0 is designed to address the civic participation needs and interests of the Millennial Generation (targeting the 16-30 age group).
Mobilize.org has worked for the past year to survey young people about what they feel is an issue in both their own community and on a national level. This consensus among the youth of America has been addressed during the Summit in order to produce the Democracy 2.0 Declaration. This declaration represents what the youth believes is working and is not working in the current democracy of the U.S.
The declaration serves as a foundation for political candidates to understand what the youth of America feels strongly about. The Declaration will be shared with 435 youth representatives at Mobilize.org’s Party for the Presidency, an event in Hollywood, CA that will take place December 29-31.
Democracy 2.0 was launched to upgrade and renew our political process in America by providing guidelines for positive social change that take advantage of both the tremendous passion of today’s youth leaders and the powerful social networking and technology tools they are using to create communities.
Mobilize.org is here to listen and help instigate change within the youth of America. You can get involved by going to http://www.mobilize.org for more information.
I’d prefer a PARTICIPATIVE democracy and government. While there will always be (I’m almost certain) a gap between the privileged and the marginalised, a chasm must be avoided. The gap reduced. After which we need bridges in requisite repair. Regards. Joyce.
Joyce,
I hear you. I, too, like the idea of a participative democracy. I am one of those sort of people who would much rather skip the meetings and the endless talking and get right to the action of making change.
But in my more reflective moments, I see the value of deliberation, especially when it, um, deliberately seeks out and involves people whose voices haven’t often been heard. I wonder whether, too often, perhaps we “doers” plunge into participation without asking “Is this what we ought to be doing? Are we involving – and seeking the leadership – of everyone who ought to be involved?” Are we bridging that gap, in other words, at every opportunity? Deliberation can help with that.
Thanks for the thought-provoking comment! Gail, thanks for the link. And Brendan, I will definitely get something posted about Democracy 2.0 at DemocracySpace.org, too.
I think you’re right about the ‘plunging in’ of ‘doers’ Julie…but how good to have a discussion ‘out there’ with the chance more will become involved and the gap reduced. People I’m speaking with here love the idea of ‘deliberative democracy’.
Julie – I agree, since we have (unless there was a tragedy) two arms to work with and I’d be poorly without one. A balance between reflection and action is not at all a bad beginning. In a representative government, the privileged, and their insatiable lust for more status, wealth and means is overwhelmingly represented. In a participatory government, the years of participation by members of policy committees, for instance, may at last be taken into account by those who rule, or aspire to rule, from the top down. The principle of the
“trickle-down effect” apes the law of the jungle and could be improved on. jp