Nivek Thompson, Journal of Public Deliberation For the First time in Australia a local council has used a deliberative democracy approach to obtain citizen advice on key decisions regarding the full range of Council services, service levels and funding. Typically a participatory budget (PB) gives citizens authority in relation to a component of the local...Continue reading
Research Papers
Assessment of the 2016 Massachusetts Citizens’ Initiative Review Pilot on Question 4
Research report prepared concurrently for the Massachusetts CIR Pilot Project and the Democracy Fund John Gastil, Professor, Communication Arts & Sciences and Political Science Senior Scholar, McCourtney Institute for Democracy Pennsylvania State University; Katherine R. Knobloch, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Communication Studies Associate Director of the Center for Public Deliberation Colorado State University; A. Lee...Continue reading
Systemic Impacts of Mini-publics
Professor Chris Riedy Dr Jenny Kent Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS You can read the full report here. Introduction A mini-public is a democratic innovation that brings together a small, representative group of citizens to deliberate and advise on a decision, or sometimes make a decision. Members of mini- publics are often randomly selected from...Continue reading
The Pulse: Australian Perspectives on Trust, The Political System and Citizens Juries
Pollinate Research, April 2017 In March 2017, Pollinate Research conducted a quantitative study that takes the ‘pulse’ of Australians on a range of issues and concerns. Pollinate is an independently owned and run research agency based in Sydney, and has conducted similar work on a regular basis since 2007. Each round of research samples 1,000 respondents nationwide, and...Continue reading
Citizens’ Parliamentary Groups
A proposal for democratic participation at constituency level Oliver Dowlen Le Centre de Recherches Politiques de Shiences Po (Political Research Centre of Sciences Po) Paris Institute of Political Studies, France (Sciences Po) MARCH 2017 ABSTRACT This is a feasibility study for a scheme for citizen participation based on randomly-selected Citizens’ Parliamentary Groups (CPGs). The essence...Continue reading
The macro-impacts of citizen deliberation processes
newDemocracy Foundation Research Project 2015-7 Final Research Report, 13 April 2017 Dr A. Wendy Russell Double Arrow Consulting Deliberative ‘mini-public’ processes such as citizens’ juries are becoming increasingly popular in Australia at local and State levels. As such, they are developing currency and impact as tools for engaging with communities on contentious political decisions. Impact,...
Experts and evidence in public decision making
Author: Jen Roberts and Ruth Lightbody Released: February 2017 ClimateXchange. Scotland’s centre of expertise connecting climate change research and policy. During a citizens’ jury, participants need to learn more about the topic at hand before they go on to deliberate the issue and agree collective recommendations. Citizens’ juries are one of several deliberative processes, which...Continue reading
Enough is enough! Why Grey Australians no longer trust their politicians
By Mark Evans*, Max Halupka* and Gerry Stoker* The Australian economy has experienced twenty years of economic growth. A remarkable performance that is unprecedented both historically and in comparison with other OECD countries over the period. Yet during the same time we have also witnessed a decade of democratic decline. Only 42% of Australians are...Continue reading
Connecting citizens to legislative deliberations: public engagement in committees
Authors: Carolyn M. Hendriks, The Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU and Adrian Kay, The Crawford School of Public Policy, ANU Abstract: Many parliaments around the world are undergoing a ‘participatory makeover’. Legislative institutions are opening their doors to the public through open days and communicating the latest ‘parliamentary updates’ via websites and social media. Many...Continue reading
Stakeholder Perceptions of Deliberative Democratic Processes.
The Institute for Sustainable Futures (ISF), University of Technology, Sydney. The newDemocracy Foundation conducted a Citizens’ Policy Jury on the issue of a safe and vibrant nightlife in Sydney during early 2014. The Jury is an example of a deliberative democracy approach that gives citizens a chance to participate directly in decision-making about policy issues....Continue reading