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< Back Selen A. Ercan Professor About Selen Ercan is a Professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. Her work sits at the intersection of normative theory and empirical political research and examines a wide range of topics including the politics of inclusion and exclusion in multicultural societies, the prospects for public deliberation in the face of value conflicts, and the potential of new forms of political participation and protest movements in reviving democracy. Selen’s recent book, Mending Democracy. Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times (2020, Oxford University Press, with Hendriks and Boswell) examines how everyday citizens, community groups, and public administrators respond to the crisis of democracy, and help mend it. Selen has published over 40 articles and book chapters on deliberative democracy, social movements, multiculturalism, and research methods in Social Sciences. Her publications have appeared in various journals including: International Political Science Review, Policy and Politics, Australian Journal of Political Science, Environmental Politics, Social Movement Studies, and Critical Policy Studies. Two of her articles won the best paper prize of the journal, Policy and Politics in 2017 and 2019. Selen holds a BA in Political Science and Public Administration (METU, Turkey), a MA in Political Science and Sociology (University of Heidelberg, Germany), and a PhD in Political Science (Australian National University, Australia). She has held research positions at the University of Mannheim (MZES), Australian National University; as well as visiting research and teaching positions in the Political Science programs of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil), Nagoya University (Japan) and Stuttgart University (Germany). Currently, Selen is serving as the co-chair the Participatory Governance Cluster of the global research project Participedia ; the co-convener of the European Consortium for Political Research’s Standing Group, Theoretical Perspectives to Policy Analysis ; and the associate editor of the interdisciplinary journal, Democratic Theory . Key Publications Ercan, S.A., Asenbaum, H., Curato, N. and Mendonça, R.F. (eds.) (2022) Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy (in press) Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hendriks, C., Ercan, S.A. and Boswell, J. (2020) Mending Democracy: Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Ercan, S.A, Hendriks, C.M, Dryzek J.S. (2019) Public deliberation in an era of communicative plenty . Policy and Politics , 47(1):19-36. Ercan, S.A. (2017) From polarisation to pluralisation: A deliberative democratic approach to illiberal cultures . International Political Science Review , 38(1):114-27. Ercan, S.A., Hendriks, C. and Boswell, J. (2017) Studying public deliberation after the systemic turn: The crucial role for interpretive research . Policy and Politics 45(2): 195-212. Full list of publications available in GoogleScholar Research grants Chief Investigator, Democratic Resilience. The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks (2021-2024). Funded by Australian Research Council Discovery Project ($511,000) Chief Investigator, Monitoring Deliberative Integrity in Australia (2021-2024). Funded by the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative. ($202,156) Partner Investigator, Connecting to Parliament Project (2020-Present). Funded by the Ohio State University Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability and the University of Canberra. Partner Investigator, Deliberative Democracy on the Face of Democratic Crisis: Contributions, Dilemmas and Ways Forward (2020-2022). Funded by the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development Research Grant ($15,000) Chief Investigator, Realising Democracy Amid Communicative Plenty: A Deliberative Systems Approach (2015-2018). Funded by the Australian Research Council Discovery Project ($369,700) Chief Investigator, Understanding and Evaluating Deliberative Systems (2015-2017). Funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and Universities Australia ($24,000) PhD students Jane Alver (Primary Supervisor) Sahana Sehgal (Primary Supervisor) Madeleine Egan (Secondary Supervisor) Anne Nygaard Jedzini (Secondary Supervisor) Dianne Phillips (Secondary Supervisor) Flavia Hanlen (Secondary Supervisor) Friedel Marquardt (Advisor) Jane Phuong (Advisor) Kei Nishiyama (Secondary Supervisor, completed) Samuel Antero (Secondary Supervisor, completed) Thaneshwar Bhusal (Advisor, completed) Catherine Clutton (Secondary Supervisor, completed) Emma Vines (Secondary Supervisor, completed) Cletius Puteho (Primary Supervisor, completed) Teaching Co-convener and Lecturer, Investing and Explaining Society (2020-present) Canberra School of Politics, Economics and Society, University of Canberra (undergraduate level) Convener and Lecturer, Management Dissertation Unit (2019) Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra (postgraduate level) Convener, Graduate Research Forum (2015-2018) Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra (postgraduate level) Convener and Lecturer, Theory and Practice of Deliberative Democracy (2015) Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University (undergraduate level) Convener and Lecturer, Comparative European Politics (2015) Graduate School of Law, Nagoya University (undergraduate level) Convener and Lecturer, Interpretive Political Research (2014) Department of Political Science, University of Minas Gerais (postgraduate level) Administration (select list) Member of Human Research Ethics Committee, University of Canberra, 2017-Present Member of Equity and Inclusion Working Group, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra, 2021. Member of Research Board Committee, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra, 2018-2020. Member of Management Committee, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, 2012-2016. Member of Graduate Research Committee, University of Canberra, 2012-2015. Higher Degree by Research (HDR) Convener, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, 2012-2015. Prizes Teaching Excellence Award (team), University of Canberra (2021) Dean’s Research Excellence Award (individual), Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra (2020) Ken Young Best Paper Award, awarded by Policy and Politics for the article ‘Public deliberation in an era of communicative plenty’, with Hendriks and Dryzek (2020) Dean’s Research Excellence Award (team), Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra, with Curato, Dryzek, Niemeyer and Pickering (2019) Ken Young Best Paper Award awarded by Policy and Politics for the article ‘Studying public deliberation after the systemic turn. The crucial role for interpretive research’, with Hendriks and Boswell (2018) Public Engagement (select list) Parry, L., Asenbaum, H., Ercan, S.A. (2021) Recipes for democratic participation during the pandemic: From anti-lockdown protest to a participatory system. Agora . 15 March. Afsahi, A., Beausoleil, E., Dean R., Gagnon, J-P., Ercan, S.A. (2020) Five lessons for democracy from COVID-19 pandemic: An international evaluation of democracy in crisis. Public Seminar . 29 October. Ercan, S.A. (2019) Reviving democracy: From crisis to innovation. Institute of Development Studies . 18 July. Ransan-Cooper, H., Ercan, S.A., Duus, S. (2018) Getting to the heart of coal seam gas protests- it’s not just the technical risks. The Conversation . 4 December. Ercan, S.A. (2017) Sisters in yarn: The rise and rise of small p politics. BroadAgenda . 16 August. Ercan, S.A. (2014) Dangerous silence: Debating ‘honour killings’ Open Democracy . 1 July.

Latest News - Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance < Back New Books on Democracy - Reception and Celebration 27 Sept 2022 On 27 September, we celebrated new books on democracy as part of the 2022 APSA Conference. Authors of the following publications each shared a short synopsis of their books: Communication Forms and Deliberation Dynamic – A Relational Content and Sequence Analysis of Political Online Discussion on Participation Platforms (2022) by Katharina Esau. Chasing Freedom, the Philippines’ Long Journey to Democratic Ambivalence (2002) by Adele Webb. Collaboration and Public Policy, Agency in the Pursuit of Public Purpose (2022) by Helen Sullivan. Complementary Democracy, The Art of Deliberative Listening (2022) edited by Matt Qvotrup and Daniela Vancic. Crowdsourced Politics, The Rise of Online Petitions & Micro-Donations (2022) by Ariadne Vromen, Darren Halpin and Michael Vaughan. Democratizing Global Justice, Deliberating Global Goals (2021) by John S. Dryzek and Ana Tanasoca. Mending Democracy, Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times (2020) by Carolyn M. Hendriks, Selen A. Ercan and John Boswell. Deliberative Mini-Publics, Core Design Features (2021) by Nicole Curato, David M. Farrell, Brigitte Geissel, Kimmo Grönlund, Patricia Mockler, Jean Benoit Pilet, Alan Renwick, Jonathan Rose, Maija Setälä and Jane Suiter. Sexuality and Gender Diversity Rights in Southeast Asia (2022) by Anthony J. Langlois. The Politics of Social Democracy: Issues, Dilemmas, and Future Directions for the Centre-Left (2021) By Rob Manwaring Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy (Oxford University Press), forthcoming on 25 October. The Politics of Becoming: Anonymity and Democracy in the Digital Age (OUP), by Hans Asenbaum, forthcoming in 2022.

< Back End of Year Report 2024 Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance 2024 , University of Canberra Summary Welcome to the 2024 end-of-year report of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. This year has been especially meaningful for us, as it marked the 10th anniversary of our Centre at the University of Canberra. This milestone provided a valuable opportunity to celebrate our collective achievements, reflect on the past decade, and envision the future of our work in deliberative democracy. Read more Previous Next

Latest News - Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance < Back Welcoming our new PhD and honours students to the Centre 5 Feb 2025 We are delighted to welcome four new students to our Centre this year, each bringing fresh perspectives and valuable contributions to our research community. Their work spans critical areas in relation to deliberative democracy such as sustainability, social work, neurodivergence, mental health, and extremist ideologies, further strengthening the depth and impact of our research. Dakila Kim Yee (PhD Student) Dakila Kim Yee joins us as a PhD candidate researching sustainability transitions in the Philippines. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Jonathan Pickering, Dr Adele Webb, and Professor John Dryzek, Dakila’s dissertation will explore the challenges envronmetnal governance face under the populist regime of Rodrigo Duterte. Elise Clark (Honours Student) With a background in social work, Elise Clark seeks to bridge social work and deliberative democracy. Her project explores and advances methods of engagement with disadvantaged communities. She is supervised by Professor Selen Ercan and Dr Adele Webb. Chris Brookhouse (Honours Student) Chris Brookhouse brings in a psychological perspective on deliberation, examining the intersection of neurodivergence, mental health, and deliberative engagement. His research interests also include neurodiverse and queer theory, disability studies and mad studies. Chris is supervised by Dr Hans Asenbaum and Dr Adele Webb. Micaela Wolf (Honours Student) Micaela Wolf aims to focus on the understanding and strengthening democratic resilience in an era of political polarisation. She will explore the manifestations of extremist ideologies in contemporary Australian democracy, working closely with Dr Jordan McSwiney and Professor Selen Ercan.

< Back Connecting to Congress during Covid-19: Political representation and two-way crisis communication Michael Neblo, Ohio State University Tue 25 May 2021 11:00am - 12:00pm Virtual seminar Abstract As the COVID-19 crisis rapidly escalated in the United States, Congress needed to pivot from its normal representational activities to: 1) find ways to disseminate reliable information regarding the crisis, 2) find ways to gather relevant information about the rapidly evolving needs of their constituents to inform responsive legislation, and 3) encourage compliance with public health measures. We were in the field running experiments with Deliberative Town Halls (DTHs) when the pandemic hit. So we quickly adapted the structure of the standard DTH model to facilitate the kinds of interactions called for by the crisis: whereas pre-COVID-19 DTHs focused on a single issue with a single member of Congress, the COVID-19 events often featured a bipartisan pair of members, participating alongside subject matter experts. This structure vividly communicated bi-partisan messages regarding public health compliance, sent credible signals about the information being provided to constituents of both parties, and reassured them that normal partisan jousting would not interfere with the crafting policy to manage the urgent needs of the crisis. They also allowed members to gather the information necessary to develop policies that would be responsive to needs as articulated by their constituents. They also allowed constituents to express their opinions and feelings on COVID-19 related policies, Congress’s handling of the pandemic, and the personal struggles they had faced as the effects of the pandemic unfolded. N.B. – 1) This presentation is based on joint work with Abigail Kielty and Amy Lee; 2) the analyses are preliminary and largely descriptive at this point; and 3) I will begin the presentation with a more general overview of the research strategy behind the larger connecting to Congress project. About the speaker Michael Neblo is Professor of Political Science and (by courtesy) Philosophy, Communication, and Public Affairs & Director of the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) at The Ohio State University. Neblo's research focuses on deliberative democracy and political psychology. His most recent book, Politics with the People: Building a Directly Representative Democracy develops and tests a new model of politics connecting citizens and elected officials to improve representative government. He has twice been invited to testify before the U.S. Congress about these findings. His first book, Deliberative Democracy between Theory and Practice cuts across the deadlock between supporters of deliberative theory and their empirical critics by focusing on the core goals of the larger deliberative political system. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in a wide range of academic journals across several fields, Neblo holds a PhD in political science from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences (MMSS) from Northwestern University. He is currently an Andrew Carnegie Fellow. Previous Next

< Back Empirical assessment of the impacts of deliberative democracy processes A Wendy Russell Tue 9 February 2016 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract A key standard for judging the quality of deliberative processes is impact on political decision-making. Yet impact is a multi-faceted and contested concept, in theory and practice. Macro-political impacts are often indirect and deliberative processes compete with a range of other inputs and factors for influence. The assessment of impacts is complicated by the difficulty of distinguishing measurable impacts from important impacts. As well as the impacts of particular processes, the research is interested in the ‘uptake’ of deliberative democracy generally, and how impact and uptake interact. This seminar relates to a research project, funded by the New Democracy Foundation (nDF), on the impacts of deliberative processes, particularly nDF processes. I will present a preliminary framework for assessing the impacts of deliberative processes, with a focus on macro-political impacts, which will be used in the empirical phase of the research. Input at this stage will be very gratefully accepted. About the speaker Wendy Russell is director of Double Arrow Consulting, a Canberra business specialising in deliberative engagement, and an associate of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. She is also affiliated with the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at ANU, and is ACT regional coordinator for the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2). She previously worked in the National Enabling Technologies Strategy – Public Awareness and Community Engagement program of the Commonwealth Department of Industry & Innovation, where she managed the Science & Technology Engagement Pathways (STEP) community engagement program. Before this, she was senior lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Wollongong, where she researched social aspects of biotechnology, transdisciplinary inquiry, and technology assessment. Previous Next

< Back Simon Niemeyer Professor About Simon Niemeyer is co-founder of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. Simon’s research covers the broad field of deliberative democracy, with a focus on the use of empirical research to inform its theoretical foundations and understand how they translate into practical democratic innovations. So far, Simon has contributed to the development of several pathbreaking concepts in the field, such as metaconsensus and discursive representation (both with John Dryzek) as well as developing innovative methods for the analysis of deliberation. His more recent work has involved conceptualising, measuring, and analysing deliberative reasoning. This work, which ties together previous work on measuring deliberative transformation and theorising of deliberative metaconsensus, has implications for minipublic design, as well broader implications for the understanding the ethics of epistemology, the nature and role of deliberative capacity, distributed reasoning in deliberative systems and mechanisms for supporting deliberative reasoning. Much of his work has focussed on deliberative democracy and environmental issues, including climate change, but also covers a broad range of topics including technological development, medical ethics, energy futures, immigration, and parliamentary reform. Niemeyer completed his PhD at the Australian National University in 2002, which followed undergraduate studies in ecology, economics, and environmental policy (Griffith University). Since graduating, he has acted as chief investigator on 18 research projects, including nine Australian Research Council Awards and an ARC Future Fellowship. As well as ANU and University of Canberra, he has held research positions at the Uppsala University, University of Birmingham, Cambridge University and CSIRO. He has also held visiting positions and numerous universities including University of Oxford (Nuffield College), Åbo Akademi, University of British Columbia, University of Bern and University of Northern Arizona. Key Publications Niemeyer, S. J. and F. Veri (Forthcoming). Deliberative Reasoning Index. Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy . S. A. Ercan, H. Asenbaum, N. Curato and R.F. Mendonca. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Niemeyer, S. J. and J. Jennstål (2018). From Minipublics to Deliberative Democracy: Scaling Up Deliberativeness and Subverting Political Manipulation. Handbook of Deliberative Democracy . A. Bächtiger, J. S. Dryzek, M. E. Warren and J. J. Mansbridge. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Niemeyer, S. J. (2011). The Emancipatory Effect of Deliberation: Empirical Lessons from Mini-Publics . Politics & Society 39(1): 103–140. Dryzek, J. S. and S. J. Niemeyer (2008). Discursive Representation . American Political Science Review 102(4): 481–494 Dryzek, J. S., & Niemeyer, S. J. (2006). Reconciling Pluralism and Consensus as Political Ideals . American Journal of Political Science , 50(3): 634–649. Full list of publications available in GoogleScholar . Research Grants Co-investigator (with PerOla Öberg). “Expert government agencies’ contribution to public deliberation: balancing the need for expertise with political equality”, Riksbanken (Sweden), SEK5,700,000 , 2021-2023 Chief Investigator (with Nicole Curato, Selen Ercan, John Dryzek and Nick Vlahos). Monitoring Deliberative Integrity in Australia. Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative. AU$202,156. 2021-2023 Chief Investigator (with John Dryzek, Dianne Nicol, Nicole Curato, Antoine Vergner). “Global Citizen Deliberation: Analysing a Deliberative Documentary for a Citizens Assembly on Genome Editing”. ARC Linkage, $450,000, 2020-2023. Chief Investigator (with Dianne Nicol, Nicole Curato, John Dryzek). “Genome editing: formulating an Australian community response”. Australian Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, Medical Research Future Fund —Genomics Health Futures Mission, $432,015. 2020-2022. Lead Investigator (with CIs Nicole Curato, John Dryzek, Andre Bachtiger. “A Metastudy of micropolitical deliberation”, ARC Discovery Project, $526,411. 2018-2020. Co-investigator (with Jane Suiter and David Farrel). Analysis of the Irish Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality,€45,000, 2020. Co-investigator (with Andre Bächtiger and S. Marien German Research Council. What citizens want from deliberative forms of participation: mapping legitimacy perceptions with an online survey and a preference experiment. (The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, €150,000. 2020-2022. Lead Investigator (with Julia Jennstål), “The Deliberative Person: How, When and Where to Citizens Deliberate” Swedish Research Council Research Grant, SEK 5,800,000 [Approx AU $1million] 2014-2017. Lead Investigator, ARC Future Fellowship “Deliberative Democracy and Climate Change: Building the Foundations of an Adaptive System”. ARC, AU$629,090. 2013-2016. Lead Investigator (with John Dryzek, David Schlosberg, Kersty Hobson, Robert Goodin, Andre Bachtiger, Maija Setala).ARC Discovery Grant DP120103976 ,“Deliberative Democracy in the Public Sphere: Achieving Deliberative Outcomes in mass publics”. AU$320,357. 2012-2014. Chief Investigator (with David Schlosberg). “ Rethinking Climate Justice in an Age of Adaptation: Capabilities, Loca Variation, and Public Deliberation”. ARC Discovery Grant DP120104797, AU$250,000. 2012-2014. Lead Investigator (with Will Steffen and Kersty Hobson). “Social Adaptation to Climate Change in the Australian Public Sphere: A Comparison of Individual and Group Deliberative Responses to Scenarios of Future Climate Change” ARC Discovery Grant DP0879092AU$378,500, 2008-2010. Chief Investigator (with John Dryzek, Lyn Carson (USyd), Janette HartzKarp (Murdoch), Ian Marsh (USyd) and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis (newDemocracy), “Creating an Analysing a Citizens’ Parliament: Exploring the Public’s Deliberative Capacity”). ARC Linkage Grant LP0882714, AU$709,575, 2008-2010. Chief Investigator (with John Dryzek), “The Micropolitics of Deliberation”. ARC Discovery Grant DP0558573, AU$365,000. 2005-2007. Lead Investigator (with Anna Littleboy), “Societal uptake of alternative energy futures”, CSIRO Energy Flagship Programme AU$400,000. 2004-2005. Chief Investigator (with Judith Petts, Kersty Hobson, Glenn McGregor). “Predicting thresholds of social behavioural responses to rapid climate change”. Economic and Social Research Council (UK). Environment and New Behaviour Opportunities Programme, £32,748. 2003-2004. Lead Investigator (with Mick Common and Russell Blamey). “Citizens’ Juries and Environmental Valuation” AU$150,000, Land and Water Australia. Social and Institutional Research Program. 1999-2002. Recipient. Land and Water Scholar. Industry Scholarship award for Doctoral Studies at the School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. AU$75,000. 1999-2002. PhD Students Nardine Almer (Primary Supervisor) Nicole Moore (Secondary Supervisor) Tatjana Zhdanova (Secondary Supervisor) Andrea Felicetti (Secondary Supervisor) Michael Rollens (Secondary Supervisor) Alex Lo (Secondary Supervisor) Administration Director, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, 2021-2022 Member, Excellence in Research committee, University of Canberra, 2021-2022. Associate Dean (Research), Faculty of Business, Government and Law, 2018-2020. Member, University Research Committee, University of Canberra, 2019-2020 Coordinator, ARC Research Proposals, Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, 2017-2018 Member, College of Arts and Social Sciences eResearch Committee, 2011-2012. Member, College of Arts and Social Sciences IT Strategy Committee, 2009-2010 Steering Group member, ANU Climate Initiative, 2007–2009 President, ANU Postgraduate and Research Student Association, 1999 Member of University Council, The Australian National University, 1999 Steering Committee Member, ECPR Standing Group, Democratic Innovations, 2011- 2015 Public Engagement Curato, Nicole, and Simon J. Niemeyer. (2020). Why we need a global citizens’ assembly on gene editing . The Conversation . Niemeyer, S. and Hausseger, V (2018). There are always going to be problems in trying something new. But try we should . Canberra Times/Sydney Morning Herald . Canberra. Niemeyer, S. J. (2017). Transforming ACT democracy one citizens' jury at a time. The Canberra Times . Niemeyer, Simon J. (2017). Deliberative democracy and citizens juries. Canberra Conversations , 4 May. Niemeyer, S. J. (2010). A novel idea on climate change: ask the people . The Conversation . Niemeyer, S. J. (2010). Helping unlikely sceptics see that climate change is real . The Age .

Former PhD student < Back Jonathan Kuyper Former PhD student About Jonathan Kuyper is a political theorist and international relations scholar working mainly with democratic theory, with a special focus on deliberative democracy. He is interested in how democratic theory can be employed to understand changes in domestic politics brought about by globalization, as well as offers ways to respond to these changes.

< Back What prevents or promotes listening? A relational content analysis of reciprocity in online political discussions Katharina Esau, University of Dusseldorf Tue 11 September 2018 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract In recent years, governments have created non-conventional opportunities for participation in order to respond to a perceived crisis of democracy. Frequently, online tools are used to include large numbers of participants in deliberation processes. From the perspective of deliberative theories, analyzing, evaluating, and developing these participatory procedures requires the application of normative standards. While conceptualizations of deliberation vary in detail, most authors agree that deliberation is a demanding type of communication characterized by equality, rationality, reciprocity, and respect. Regarding structural equality or equality in terms of access, anyone affected should have the chance to participate regardless gender, ethnic, or social background. In the past, participation procedures repeatedly have fallen short in creating structural equality. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to assume that once citizens find their way to a discursive space and speak, they at least then experience discursive equality in the form of listening. Against this normative background, “being listened to” can be considered one crucial outcome of successful deliberative procedures. However, most studies are focusing on discursive equality in terms of voice. In contrast to this, this presentation focuses on the distribution of listening in online political discussions and on factors that prevent or promote listening. About the speaker Katharina Esau is a PhD candidate in Communication Studies at the University of Düsseldorf and part of the NRW Graduate School for Online Participation and the Düsseldorf Institute for Internet and Democracy. Her research interests include digital democracy, online deliberation, online public sphere, and public opinion formation. Her PhD project deals with online deliberation processes created by state actors on the local and regional level of government. Combining relational content analysis and sequence analysis, she investigates the interrelations between argumentation, narration, expression of emotion, and humour and how these fundamental forms of communication foster or impede reciprocity, reflexivity and empathy in online discussions. The PhD project is supervised by Prof. Christiane Eilders. In Düsseldorf, Katharina lectures on democratic theory, public sphere theory, deliberation research, and deliberative design. Previous Next

< Back Deliberating in the Anthropocene: Signs and sources of reflexive governance Jonathan Pickering, University of Canberra Tue 22 September 2015 11:00am - 12:00pm Fishbowl, Building 24, University of Canberra Abstract Many commentators believe that the Earth has entered a new geological epoch—the Anthropocene—marked by humanity’s pervasive impact on global ecosystems. Resulting patterns of environmental degradation pose major challenges for the planet’s inhabitants as well as for political institutions worldwide. John Dryzek has recently argued that in the Anthropocene institutions need to cultivate “ecosystemic reflexivity”, which involves “listening more effectively to an active Earth system, capacity to reconsider core values such as justice in this light, and ability to seek, receive and respond to early warnings about potential ecological state shifts” (Dryzek 2014). But what would ecosystemic reflexivity look like in practice and how could it could be cultivated? In this paper (co-authored with John Dryzek) we outline a preliminary typology of signs or indicators of ecosystemic reflexivity, and of factors that may enable or constrain reflexivity. Even if institutions may become reflexive through non-deliberative means, we argue—drawing on existing literature on deliberative systems and complex adaptive systems—that deliberative innovations hold considerable potential to promote reflexivity. In order to assess the strength of this argument in practice, we outline a planned case study on reflexivity in international institutions that fund development and environmental protection in low-income countries. About the speaker Jonathan joined the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance in 2015. He is a Postdoctoral Fellow working with Professor John Dryzek on his Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship project, ‘Deliberative Worlds: Democracy, Justice and a Changing Earth System’. He completed his PhD in philosophy at the Australian National University, based in the Centre for Moral, Social and Political Theory and graduating in 2014. His thesis explored opportunities for reaching a fair agreement between developing and developed countries in global climate change negotiations. Before joining the University of Canberra he taught climate and environmental policy at the Crawford School of Public Policy at ANU, and has been a Visiting Fellow at the Development Policy Centre at ANU since 2014. Jonathan’s research interests include the ethical and political dimensions of global climate change policy, global environmental governance, development policy and ethics, and global justice. He has a Masters' degree in development studies from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and undergraduate degrees in arts and law from the University of Sydney. Previously he worked as a policy and program manager with the Australian Government's international development assistance program (AusAID, 2003-09). Previous Next

Postdoctoral Research Fellow < Back Ana Tanasoca Postdoctoral Research Fellow About Ana Tanasoca's interests include global (economic) justice, epistemic democracy, immigration ethics and citizenship, and deliberative democracy and broadly in applied ethics and democratic theory.

< Back Communicative justice: New forms of digital secure political deliberation using Deciso 1.0 Javier Romero, University of Salamanca Tue 24 October 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract The growth of the Internet has been one of the most remarkable phenomena of the last century. In the early 1980s, Internet was known to only a handful of scientist and academics, but it is now being regularly used by almost 4000 million people. The Internet is more than merely a communications network. According to Manuel Castells, the Internet is an infrastructure helping to create a new social, political and economic order characterized by global connectivity and the decentralization of authority. Nonetheless, although the new technologies determines to some degree how we live and work, new forms of power and domination have appeared againts the "lifeworld" (in terms of Jürgen Habermas): Big Data, communications surveillance, Internet of Things (IoT), hacking democracy, dark web… Our human freedom in the digital political deliberation can be hacked by states, technology companies, and black hackers. On a practical level, Green States and Social Movements need secure technology for secure communications. DeCiSo 1.0 (Secret Chat for Deliberation in Civil Society using Wi-Fi Covert Channel-802.11 protocol) is an example to secure communications with cryptography and Free Software (GNU/Linux). The "communicative justice" is a requirement of deliberative democracy. We need more, not less democracy. About the speaker Degree in Philosophy. PhD student in “Deliberative Democracy and Environment” (Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el Bueno Foundation). Member of Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE). Ethical Hacker. He works deliberative democracy, digital democracy, political ecology, environment, and CyberEthics. He supports online rights (Free Software Foundation and Electronic Frontier Foundation). Twitter: @j4virom Previous Next

< Back Friedel Marquardt Research Assistant About Friedel is a Research Assistant in the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance for the global research project Participedia’s Participatory Governance Cluster. She is also a PhD student at the University of Canberra, in the School of Politics, Economics and Society in the Business, Government and Law faculty.  Dissertation Friedel’s PhD thesis considers whether social media is a viable platform for marginalised groups to engage with dominant narratives. She is specifically looking into the Black Lives Matter movement in Australia, which had a strong focus on First Nations deaths in custody, to try to understand if and to what extent this takes place. PhD Supervisors Mary Walsh (primary supervisor)  Selen Ercan (secondary supervisor)  Hans Asenbaum (secondary supervisor)  Administration Cluster Coordinator, Participedia, 2021-present Scholarships and Prizes Research Training Program Stipend Scholarship (2021-2023), University of Canberra University Medal (2019), University of Canberra Key Publications Gagnon, J.P., Asenbaum, H., Fleuβ, D., Bassu, S., Guasti, P., Dean, R., Chalaye, P., Alnemr, N., Marquardt, F. & Weiss, A. (2021) The Marginalized Democracies of the World. Democratic Theory, 8(2), 1-18.  https://doi.org/10.3167/dt.2021.080201   Conference Presentations The Politics of Narrative in Media, Political Organisation and Participation (POP) APSA Standing Group Annual Workshop, 6-7 December 2022, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA.  Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 26-28 September 2022, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT. The Politics of Narrative in Media, Political Organisation and Participation (POP) APSA Standing Group Annual Workshop, 16-17 February 2022, Griffith University, Brisbane, QLD.  “First Nations in Contemporary Australia: Present, but Heard?”, Australian Political Studies Association Annual Conference, 20-22 September 2021, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, (online due to COVID restrictions). Teaching Tutor, Introduction to Politics and Government, 2022 – present Tutor and guest lecturer, Introduction to Public Policy, 2021 - present  Public Engagement Levin, M., Parry, L., & Marquardt, F. (2022) ‘Best-Interests Decision Making,’ Just Participation Participedia Podcast, 16 August. Marquardt, F. (2022) ‘People’s participation in process design,’ in Risks and lessons from the deliberative wave. Edited by N. Curato. Deliberative Democracy Digest. 2 May.  Marquardt, F. (2022) Who determines the practical meanings of democracy?. ECPR The Loop. 7 April.  Marquardt, F. (2022) Who Controls the Narrative? The Power of Social Media, Murra Magazine. February. Marquardt, F. and Ercan, S.A. (2022) Deliberative Integrity Indicators: Some Insights from Participedia. Research Note #3 , Deliberative Integrity Project. January. 

< Back The Crisis of Democracy and the Science of Deliberation Dryzek, J.S., Bächtiger, A. et al 2019 , Science 363: 1144-46. DOI: 10.1126/science.aaw2694 Summary Read more Previous Next

< Back Power in Deliberative Democracy: Norms, Forums, Systems Nicole Curato, Marit Hammond and John B. Min 2019 , Palgrave Summary Deliberative democracy is an embattled political project. It is accused of political naiveté for it only talks about power without taking power. Others, meanwhile, take issue with deliberative democracy’s dominance in the field of democratic theory and practice. An industry of consultants, facilitators, and experts of deliberative forums has grown over the past decades, suggesting that the field has benefited from a broken political system. This book is inspired by these accusations. It argues that deliberative democracy’s tense relationship with power is not a pathology but constitutive of deliberative practice. Deliberative democracy gains relevance when it navigates complex relations of power in modern societies, learns from its mistakes, remains epistemically humble but not politically meek. These arguments are situated in three facets of deliberative democracy—norms, forums, and systems—and concludes by applying these ideas to three of the most pressing issues in contemporary times—post-truth politics, populism, and illiberalism. Read more Previous Next

< Back When deliberative democracy travels to China: An example of cultural exceptionalism Li-chia Lo, University of Melbourne Tue 7 February 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract As Edward Said elaborates in his Travelling Theory, theory is like human beings who travel from its birthplace to other foreign places. This is where the meaning of theory begins to transform, and Said’s work points to a new direction of investigating the transcultural transformation of knowledge when theory is disseminated in our globalised world. By following this line of thinking, the development of deliberative democracy in China offers an excellent example to review how the actual contexts transform the meaning and implication of deliberative democracy. Engaging with the issue of translation and its related contexts, the development of deliberative democracy in China is deeply connected with its culture, institution, and socio-political traditions. Also, the background of introducing deliberative democracy to China is also tightly bridged with the studies of democratization. The double movements between the local contexts and the universal trend of democratization form the basic theme of deliberative democracy in China. Deliberative democracy in China is therefore, struggled between universalism and exceptionalism. By making use of Giorgio Agamben’s concepts of example and exception, I will go into details about why and how the development of deliberative democracy in China is heading toward a cultural exceptionalism rather than embracing the universalism prescribed in the normative goal of deliberative democracy. About the speaker Li-chia Lo is a Ph.D. candidate in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne. His doctoral thesis is about deliberative democracy and participatory budgeting in China. He is particularly interested in formations of related knowledge and local experiments in Chinese cities. Previous Next

Postdoctoral Research Fellow < Back Hayley Stevenson Postdoctoral Research Fellow About Hayley Stevenson's principal research interests include: global environmental politics and climate change, global civil society, legitimacy in international relations, and deliberative global governance. She is a Reader in Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.

< Back Revitalising intra-party democracy through digital democratic innovations: The case of Danish political party Alternativet Nikolai Gad, Newcastle University Tue 3 July 2018 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract The Danish political party Alternativet constitutes a recent example of an emerging political party that claims to promote and practice new and inclusive ways of doing politics, experimenting with digital technologies for this purpose. In this respect, they share many characteristics with other emerging, European political parties, including the Pirate Parties in Germany, Iceland and elsewhere, Podemos in Spain, and M5S in Italy. Similarly, to these parties, Alternativet also experienced electoral success relatively quickly and has been represented in parliament since 2015. Thus, Alternativet, like similar emerging parties, is an attempt to combine democratic innovations with party politics and traditional political institutions in liberal representative democracies. This is interesting considering how democratic innovations are often conceptualised in contrast to classic representative political institutions, and these parties’ potential ability to provide consequentiality to citizen participation. In my PhD, I explore how digital democratic innovations are used in Alternativet, to involve members and supporters directly in intra-party policy formation and decision-making. Based on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders in Alternativet, I identify four different models of intra-party democracy promoted by the party elite; each with their own justifications for and aims of involving people in party politics. These include an aggregative crowd sourcing model, a participatory DIY model, a deliberative model, and a more traditional delegation model. I theorise that different digital technologies utilised by the party, each cater for different models of intra-party democracy, and test this through a membership survey. About the speaker Nikolai Gad is a RCUK (Research Council UK) funded PhD candidate at Newcastle University, where he studies the role of digital technologies in emerging European political parties, that claim to re-invent how to “do politics” from the bottom up. Here, he is based at the Centre for Doctoral Training in Digital Civics based at the university’s Open Lab, from where he also earned a Master degree in preparation for the PhD. Additionally, he is part of the School of Geography, Sociology and Politics at Newcastle University, and he holds a BSc degree in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen, and an MSc degree in Digital Design and Communication from the IT-University of Copenhagen. Previous Next

< Back Luisa Batalha Associate About Luisa Batalha's work examines themes related to social identity and deliberative democracy, in addition to research on multiculturalism and prejudice, and the psychology of climate change. Luisa works at the Department of Psychology at the ANU and has conducted quantitative analysis on the Australian Citizens' Parliament.

< Back Deliberative andragogy: The role of education in deliberative democracy Timothy J. Shaffer, Kansas State University Tue 21 July 2020 11:00am - 12:00pm Virtual seminar Seminar recording is available on our YouTube channel. Abstract As we think about public discussion shaping political decisions, the role of education plays a part in shaping how people come to think about complex issues and the place of deliberative democratic engagement in public forums, mini-publics, and the like. Today, there is a growing literature exploring deliberative pedagogy—teaching and learning for democratic engagement in formal and non-formal settings such as universities, schools, and community-based settings. While the language does not necessarily denote these distinctions, there is a philosophical difference between pedagogy and andragogy—the education of children and the education of adults—as it influences and shapes the way in which we think about education in democratic practice in multiple settings. This talk will make an argument for why we should think about deliberative andragogy as an impactful way to think about the role of education and why we should consider how this conceptual approach to civic learning offers an important perspective on expertise and lay knowledge in deliberative democracy. About the speaker As an interdisciplinary scholar and practitioner of deliberative democracy, civic education, and group communication, Dr. Timothy J. Shaffer focuses on the advancement of democratic practices by focusing on the role of civic professionals in institutional settings such as higher education, local government, and non-governmental organizations in relationship with diverse communities. Dr. Shaffer is the editor of Deliberative Pedagogy: Teaching and Learning for Democratic Engagement (Michigan State University Press, 2017), Jumping into Civic Life: Stories of Public Work from Extension Professionals (Kettering Foundation Press, 2018), Agri-Culture and Future of Farming: An Interactivity Foundation Discussion Guidebook (Interactivity Foundation, 2018), A Crisis of Civility? Political Discourse and Its Discontents (Routledge, 2019), and Creating Space for Democracy: A Primer on Dialogue and Deliberation in Higher Education (Stylus, 2019). He has published dozens of articles and book chapters in academic publications; presents and engages diverse public audiences through radio, TV, and print; and offers workshops and training to professionals in universities, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and with legislative bodies. Dr. Shaffer currently serves an associate professor in the Department of Communication Studies and as director of the Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy at Kansas State University. He is also principal research specialist with the National Institute for Civil Discourse at the University of Arizona. Connected to these efforts, Shaffer serves as the associate editor of the Journal of Deliberative Democracy and as a country expert on deliberative democracy in the United States with the Varieties of Democracy project based at the University of Gothenburg. His research centers on the advancement of democratic practices through deliberative politics and civic engagement in higher education and other institutional and community settings. He received his B.A. in Theology and Philosophy from St. Bonaventure University, Master’s in Theology and Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Dayton, and his Ph.D. in Education (Adult and Extension Education, City and Regional Planning, and Community-Based Natural Resource Management) from Cornell University. Previous Next