Affiliates & Partners
|
Deliberative Democracy | Bulletin No. 1 v.2, January 2, 2003
-------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------
A very warm greeting to everyone, and very best wishes to you in the New Year. 2003 has the potential to be a watershed year for the movement to advance participatory, deliberative democratic thought and practice.
Here at the Deliberative Democracy Consortium, we are particularly pleased to announce the selection of the Consortium’s first Director, Tonya Gonzalez. Tonya was selected out of a very competitive pool of candidates for her passion for democratic renewal—and in particular her commitment to the inclusion of minority groups in this work—as well as her extensive work in democracy-building through the Open Society Institute and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Ms Gonzalez can be reached at <tgonzalez@deliberative-democracy.net> Welcome, Tonya!
Looking into the year ahead, not only is there a strong record of progress in 2002 to build upon, but numerous activities are already in the works for 2003. Your support to promote the visibility, utility, and legitimacy of this work will be a significant success factor in the coming months. Please forward information about these activities within your networks as it materializes. At the same time, the Deliberative Democracy Consortium would like to make this eBulletin most useful to you our readers. Please send information about interesting experiments, legislative activity, funding opportunities, and critical thought within the field of deliberative democracy to <editor@deliberative-democracy.net>.
Again, best wishes for the new year.
~editor
1 | Update from the Steering Committee
-- ------------------------------------------------
December 13-15 was the first meeting of the Deliberative Democracy Consortium Steering Committee in Boston, MA. During the two day meeting, the Steering Committee (SC) identified core areas of work for the next year to strengthen both the Consortium and the ‘nascent movement’ for deliberative democracy. The Steering Committee will be developing a strategic plan, action items, and work groups during the next few weeks. The Consortium will provide a description of its key objectives for 2003 and ways you can be involved in the next issue of this bulletin (January 16, 2003). To browse a list of Steering Committee members, visit <http://deliberative-democracy.net/governance/steering_committee.html>
2 | Call for Presenters
-- ------------------------------------------------------
2003 National Community Involvement Conference and Training :: This dynamic annual national conference brings together public participation and community involvement professionals from EPA programs and EPA's federal, state, tribal, and local partners. It will be held during July 22 - 25, 2003 in Philadelphia, PA. The application receipt deadline is January 20, 2003. For those interested, visit
<http://www.epancic.org/2003/CallPresenters.cfm> where you can download this document and associated application forms.
3 | National Issues Convention in Philadelphia
-- ---------------------------------------------------------
On January 10-12 more than 325 Americans—a scientific random sample of the population—will come together in Philadelphia to discuss America ’s role in the world. Participant’s will be asked to share their attitudes and beliefs about how Americans affect—and are affected—by world events. Responses will be measured by a Deliberative Opinion Poll (DOP), which “Provides a picture of what the public would think about the issues if it became more informed,” says the DOP pioneer, James S. Fishkin.
The National Issues Convention, hosted by MacNeil/Lehrer Productions, kicks-off “By the People: America in the World,” a 16 month program designed to help Americans better understand how they see themselves in relation to the rest of the world and to stimulate discussion of our country’s role in world events.
4 | Health Care that Works for All Americans Act
-- -------------------------------------------------------------
Late in 2002, a rather extraordinary piece of legislation made it out of committee too late to receive Senate action in that year. This year, the “Health Care that Works for All Americans Act,” (S.3063) will be on the 108th Congress’ agenda. This unique piece of legislation—which calls for a national discussion of health care priorities and mandates a Congressional vote on health care legislation that springs from the recommendations of Americans—could set a precedent for a citizen-centered policy-formulation process.
Please visit <http://wyden.senate.gov/media/2002/2002C18738.html> for a list of recent endorsements of the bill.
5 | Policy Processes over Policy Outcomes?
-- ----------------------------------------------------
A new book, “Stealth Democracy: American’s Beliefs About How Government Should Work” (2002: Cambridge University Press) challenges the popular notion (particularly among public involvement practitioners and academics) that Americans desire a greater role in policy formulation. The authors—Professors John R. Hibbing and Elizabeth Theiss-Morse of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln—advance the case that what American’s actually want is to remove self-interest from the motives of policy elites. The authors draw upon a compelling range of data, including the Gallup Organizations’ 1998 “Democratic Processes Survey” to explore a range of reform options and present a picture of the kind of democracy Americans actually want: stealth democracy.
Read a full description of the book and a sample chapter at <http://books.cambridge.org/0521009863.htm>.
6 | Bulgaria Deliberative Poll
-- -----------------------------------
The Center for Deliberative Polling has released the outcomes of the first Deliberative Poll on a national basis in Eastern Europe. “Fighting Crime In Bulgaria”—convened by The Center for Liberal Strategies, Alpha Research and bTV in Bulgaria—showed a number of statistically very interesting shifts in attitudes held by participants after they had an opportunity to discuss the crime-related issues on which they were initially polled. For a description of the poll results, visit <http://www.cls-sofia.org/events/crime_2002-en.htm> or <http://www.la.utexas.edu//research/delpol/cdpindex.html>.
|
|
Recent News
The Change Handbook is a comprehensive guide to a wide range
of methods of organization and community change designed for
quick access to information from today's foremost practitioners
of organizations and community change methods.
Learn
more...
Two recent applications of the Deliberative Poll technique
pioneered by Professor James Fishkin of Stanford University have
been made in Omagh, Northern Ireland and Regione Lazio in Italy.
Learn more...
iCommunity.TV is a new website launched by eparticipation
expert Chris Haller and is envisioned as an online host for
online dialogues.
Learn more...
The Virtual Agora Project, launched in the Fall of 2002 at
Carnegie Mellon University, sought to develop and test video,
audio, and text-based tools to support collaborative information
sharing and structured public discussion about civic issues.
Learn more...
|
|
