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Deliberative Democracy Consortium eBulletin, v.4, no.1; January 3, 2004
As we begin the New Year, we send warm greetings and the hope that each of you and those close to you are well. Here's hoping 2005 brings some great changes for a better world!
To refresh memories, here are a few tips for using d-d.net:
Do you have a topic for discussion? Please consider submitting a 2,000 word "think piece" to d-d.net (drop a line to the d-d.net editor. Also, be sure to visit the d-d.net blog and join a discussion around the international movement to deepen democracy.
Best wishes in the New Year,
Lars Hasselblad Torres
Editor
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1 | UNITED AGENDA FOR CHILDREN
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On December 11, AmericaSpeaks convened more than 1,000 residents of Charlotte, NC to develop a United Agenda for Children. The forum launched a three-year process that will culminate in community institutions and organizations aligning their budgets and programming with public priorities for ensuring that all children are healthy, safe and well educated.
The United Agenda for Children is a coalition of non-profit organizations, public institutions and businesses. Visit the United Agenda for Children web site or download the preliminary report from the 21st Century Town Meeting. A full discussion guide for the forum is also available online.
2 | AT THE PRESS: THE DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY HANDBOOK
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A brilliant new resource for deliberation practitioners and scholars is in the works. Co-edited by two of the US's foremost scholars of deliberation, John Gastil (University of Washington) and Peter Levine (University of Maryland), "The Deliberative Democracy Handbook" will be a valuable and long-awaited contribution to the field.
According to the publishers, Jossey-Bass, "the heart of the book is a series of detailed examinations of different deliberative practices written by civic innovators, scholars, and public officials who have organized and observed them. Each chapter begins by exploring the origins, purpose, and method of a particular deliberation program, and presents a case study of a single event or set of meetings using this program. Each chapter then explores what does and does not work for the program, guides readers in deciding if the method is appropriate for their needs, and helps them implement it if so."
For more information, please visit Wiley Publishers.
3 | CITIZENS AND GOVERNANCE TOOLKIT
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The Commonwealth Foundation has produced a compact "Citizens and Governance Toolkit" which, according to the Foundation's Director Colin Ball, "will strengthen the ability of citizens and civil society organizations to work together." The toolkit provides summaries of specific govern
ance processes and concrete ways they can be strengthened through new opportunities for citizen participation.
The Citizens and Governance Toolkit is the product of 21 learning projects and case studies from across the Commonwealth, whichaimed ot promote practicalmetholds to increase people's ability to participate in governance. The spiralbound toolkit comes in the form of a handbook and includes an interactive CD-ROM which contains additional resources, such as video clips and downloadable resources, including training materials, guidelines and background papers on civil society and governance.
This is the first version of the Toolkit, and the Foundation plans to
develop revised versions from time to time, incorporating additional
material. The Foundation is looking for feedback about parts that are particularly
useful as well as areas which could be expanded. To order the toolkit, contact Andrew Firmin, Program Officer at the Foundation.
4 | ONLINE CITIZEN PARTICIPATION TOOLKIT
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The "Toolkit Citizen Participation" enjoys a new online presence which offers a database of case studies that demostrate empowered participatory governance around the world. The Toolkit, which is a collaboration among several NGOs including Partners Foundation for Local Development (Romania), SNV Netherlands Development Organization, Center for Youth and Development (India), and the African Foundation for Integrated Development (Dakar) offers regular newsletters and an international network of scholars and practitioners.
For more information, visit toolkitparticipation.nl.
5 | IAF HANDBOOK OF FACILITATION
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Sponsored by the International Association of Facilitators and edited by Professor Sandor Schuman, "The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation" is an indispensable collection of need-to-know basics in facilitation. The handbook includes strategies and methods, foundations, and resources for working successfully with groups.
The IAF Handbook of Group Facilitation, to which more than fifty scholars and practitioners have contributed, includes chapters on developing a collaborative environment, designing and facilitating dialogue, and managing conflicting agendas.
For more information, or to request an evaluation copy, visit the Wiley and Sons website.
6 | IN PRINT: DEMOCRACY AFTER LIBERALISM
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Routledge has just published "Democracy After Liberalism: Pragmatism and
Deliberative Politics" (Routledge, 2005), by Vanderbilt University philosopher Robert Talisse.
From the publisher: In "Democracy After Liberalism," Robert B. Talisse critically evaluates liberalism, the dominant attempt in the tradition of political philosophy to provide a philosophical foundation for democracy. Combining recent work on deliberative democracy with C.S. Peirce's pragmatism, Talisse argues for an epistemic conception of deliberative democracy to meet this need. Although the resulting view is not liberal, it eschews the problems confronting communitarianism by insisting that the formative role of the state is epistemological rather than moral.
Robert Talisse's primary research area is contemporary political philosophy; he is especially concerned with issues regarding democracy, deliberation, pluralism, liberalism, and civic republicanism. Much of his work incorporates insights gleaned from the pragmatists, especially Charles Peirce and John Dewey.
To learn more and to order the book online, visit Taylor and Francis Publishers.
7 | WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM AND THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM WARM THEIR ENGINES
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Both the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil are preparing for their simultaneous meetings in late January. What is particularly interesting about this year's dual convocations is that both groups have adopted design innovations to provide a richer, deeper experience for participants.
The World Economic Forum, a prominent annual meeting of the world's decision-makers, brings together almost 3,000 leaders from the private, government, and non-profit sectors. The purpose of the meeting is to assess the global climate for business development and share insights into critical trends. The theme of this year's forum will be, "Taking Responsibility for Our Actions."
The World Social Forum, originally launched as an "alternative voice" to the World Economic Forum, brings together almost 100,000 activists and scholars from across sectors, with much of its representation drawn from southern nations. This year, for the first time in its five-year history, the WSF is being organized in a way that encourages groups to identify common action and work together.
If any d-d.net readers will be attending either event, we'd be deeply grateful for your report on these important global discussions. To learn more, visit the World Economic Forum and the World Social Forum websites.
8 | RESOURCE: COLLABORATIVE DEMOCRACY NETWORK
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A network of over 50 interdisciplinary and international scholars has been established to focus on enhancing the role of deliberative and collaborative methods in democratic governance. Scholar-members of the "Collaborative Democracy Network" (CDN) are interested in research and practice in public policy, public management and administration, political science, planning, and communication.
The premise of the Collaborative Democracy Network is that there are very useful discourses underway in these disciplines that are converging in some ways. But the discourses are still distinct. The goal is to help bring these discourses together to explore the potential synergies around the theme: "Collaborative Policy and Democracy: Building Capable Institutions of Governance for Network Society".
CDN is being coordinated by the Center for Collaborative Policy at California State University Sacramento (with the financial assistance of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation).
To learn more, visit the CDN website.
9 | STUDY CIRCLES AND ELECTIONS
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The latest edition of the Study Circles Resource Center newsletter (SCRC, Fall 2004) offers insights into ways dialogue and deliberation can impact elections. SCRC also asked many of its community-based study circle leaders to share ways their discussion programs are having an impact on democracy at the local level. First-hand stories of "democracy in action" in this slim collection come from a diverse set of leaders in Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansa and Idaho.
Download the newsletter at the Study Circles website (.pdf file).
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