Premium
What Is Public Deliberation?
Author(s) -
BLACKSHER ERIKA,
DIEBEL ALICE,
FOREST PIERREGERLIER,
GOOLD SUSAN DORR,
ABELSON JULIA
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
hastings center report
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1552-146X
pISSN - 0093-0334
DOI - 10.1002/hast.26
Subject(s) - deliberation , alice (programming language) , citation , art history , library science , law , history , computer science , political science , politics
March-April 2012 The idea that ordinary people should have an opportunity to participate in important policy matters is as old as democracy itself. Today, this idea prevails in contemporary democratic theory and has made significant inroads in public policy. Deliberations to address social challenges in health, science, education, and the environment are proliferating around the globe. Deliberative processes have been used, for example, to strengthen local government and civil society in Bolivia; promote growth and sustainability in Perth, Australia; and advise health ministries in Canada on new health technologies. Yet despite the widespread appeal of and volumes of ink devoted to this idea, there is no settled account of what constitutes public deliberation in theory or in practice. Deliberative processes go by a variety of names (deliberative democracy, deliberative politics, participatory governance) and take diverse forms (citizen juries, national issue forums, deliberative opinion polls, participatory budgeting). The purposes, processes, and products of deliberation are all subject to debate. Here we propose Essays