Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation

Description

Democracy requires a connection to the 'will of the people'. What does that mean in a world of 'fake news', relentless advocacy, dialogue mostly among the like-minded, and massive spending to manipulate public opinion? What kind of opinion can the public have under such conditions? What would democracy be like if the people were really thinking in depth about the policies they must live with? If they really 'deliberated' with good information about their political choices? This book argues that 'deliberative democracy' is not utopian. It is a practical solution to many of democracy's ills. It can supplement existing institutions with practical reforms. It can apply at all levels of government and for many different kinds of policy choices. This volume speaks to a recurring dilemma: listen to the people and get the angry voices of populism or rely on widely distrusted elites and get policies that seem out of touch with the public's concerns. Instead, there are methods for getting a representative and thoughtful public voice that is really worth listening to. Democracy is under siege in most countries, where democratic institutions have low approval and face a resurgent threat from authoritarian regimes. Deliberative democracy can provide an antidote and can reinvigorate our democratic politics. This book draws on the author's research with many collaborators on 'Deliberative Polling'-a process conducted in 27 countries on six continents. It contributes both to political theory and to the empirical study of public opinion and participation. It should interest anyone concerned about the future of democracy and how it can be revitalized. Cover Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation Copyright Acknowledgments Table of Contents List of Tables List of Boxes Part I: Introduction 1. Party Competition and Its Limits 2. Deliberation and Reform Notes Part II: Can the People Rule? 1. Four Criteria for Popular Control 2. Four Forms of Democracy 3. Popular Control in Competitive Democracies 4. Is There Democracy for “Realists”? 5. Manipulation 6. Elite Deliberation and Popular Control: Madison’s Filter 7. Participatory Democracy and Democratic Control: From Town Meetings to Referenda 8. Reflections on the Athenian Case Notes Part III: Making Deliberation Practical 1. Designing Deliberative Democracy Demographic Representativeness Attitudinal Representativeness Sample Size Arguments For and Against Knowledge Gain Opinion Change Avoiding Distortions Identifiable Reasons 2. Deliberative Agenda-Setting: California in One Room What Happened? INSIDE THE DELIBERATIONS: A FIRST LOOK What’s Next? Inequality What’s Next? Polarization After What’s Next: Initiative Reform Agenda-Setting and the Initiative Process Toward an Agenda-Setting Institution 3. Mongolia: Deliberative Participatory Budgeting Participatory Budgeting To What Effect? Who Participated? What Happened? An Environmental Focus Knowledge Inequality Polarization Efficacy and Mutual Respect Policy Impact and Institutionalization 4. Applying Deliberative Democracy in Africa: Uganda’s First Deliberative Polls Critiques of Deliberative Democracy Applying Deliberative Polling in Uganda Policy Attitudes: Bududa Avoiding Distortions Conclusion 5. Deliberating European-Wide? A European-Wide Public Sphere Europolis Inclusion: How Representative? Was It Dialogic? Was It Informative? Was It Distorted by Inequalities or Polarization? Deliberation and Voting Conclusion Notes Part IV: Reimagining Democratic Possibilities 1. Designs for Deliberation: Where and How? Replace or Supplement? 2. It Works in Practice, But Does It Work in Theory? Domination by the More Advantaged Polarization Lack of Citizen Competence The Gap between Mini-Publics and the Broader Society 3. From Thought Experiments to Real Experiments: Reflections on Rawls and Habermas Rawls Habermas 4. Deliberative Democracy and Candidate Selection 5. Texas: Connecting Public Deliberation to Policy Elites 6. Connecting Deliberative Designs to Participatory Democracy 7. Deliberating Before Ballot Propositions: Reflecting on the “Australian Republic” 8. Japan: Deliberation for Hard Choices 9. Deliberation Day 10. Connecting Deliberative Democracy to ConstitutionalChange 11. Speculating on New Institutions 12. Mongolia Deliberates on Constitutional Change Sample and Recruitment Representativeness What the Public Concluded Proposed Amendment 13. “Deliberative Authoritarianism”? 14. “Deliberative Systems” and Popular Control 15. Toward Collective Self-Rule Notes Appendix Index