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John S. Dryzek, Selen Ercan, Paul Fawcett, Carolyn Hendriks and Michael Jensen < Back Realising Democracy Amid Communicative Plenty: A Deliberative Systems Approach Investigator(s): John S. Dryzek, Selen Ercan, Paul Fawcett, Carolyn Hendriks and Michael Jensen Funded through a Discovery Project (DP150103615) ($369,700), the Project Team includes: · John S. Dryzek, Chief Investigator · Selen A. Ercan, Chief Investigator · Paul Fawcett, Chief Investigator · Carolyn Hendriks, Chief Investigator · Michael Jensen, Chief Investigator · Hedda Ransan-Cooper, Postdoctoral Research Fellow · Sonya Duus, Research Associate Project Description The ever-increasing volume of political communication (especially online) challenges democracy and effective policy making. This project examines whether, how, why, and to what effect discourse flows within and between different deliberative sites in the new politics of communicative plenty. We apply the idea of deliberative democracy, which puts meaningful communication between citizens and policy makers at the heart of effective governance. It develops a deliberative analysis of controversy surrounding coal seam gas in Australia, using qualitative and ‘big data techniques to collect information.

Working Paper Series The Centre for Deliberative Democracy working paper series makes preliminary findings of research on deliberative democracy publicly available in advance of publication in journals and books. The series aims to present new research that makes original, high-quality contributions to the theory and practice of deliberative democracy informed by recent literature in the field. The working paper series is edited by Simon Niemeyer. Contributions to the series are welcomed from staff members, associates and visitors of the Centre. To propose a paper for inclusion in the series, please contact: Simon Niemeyer Professor simon.niemeyer@canberra.edu.au 2024/1 Hans Asenbaum, Nicole Curato, Bonny Ibhawoh, Genevieve Fuji Johnson, Justin McCaul and Ricardo F. Mendonça "Can Deliberative Democracy be Decolonized? A Debate" 2023/2 Lucy Parry "Integrity Challenges in Deliberative Mini-Publics" 2023/1 Mathias Poulsen "Playful Democratic Assemblages" 2022/2 Marie-Isabel Theuwis & Rosa Kindt "Through the Looking Glass" 2022/1 Nick Vlahos "Democratic Restructuring and the Triaging Functions of an Urban Deliberative System". 2021/4 Simon Niemeyer, Francesco Veri, John S. Dryzek and Andre Bachtiger "How Deliberation Happens: Enabling and Activating Deliberative Reasoning". (Published in APSR) 2021/3 John Rountree and Nicole Curato "Citizens' Assemblies and the Public Sphere". 2021/2 Antonin Lacelle Webster "The Political Problem of Hope and its Deliberative Manifestation". 2021/1 Pierrick Chalaye "The Discursive Sources of Environmental Progress and its Limits: Biodiversity Politics in France". 2020/3 Kei Nishiyama, Wendy Russell and Pierrick Chalaye "The Interplay of Facilitative Technique and Design to Increase Inclusiveness." 2020/2 Parry, Lucy J. and Ercan, Selen A. "Using Participedia to study the impacts of mini-publics.” 2019/6 Christoph Niessen and Min Reuchamps "Designing a permanent deliberative citizens' assembly." 2019/5 David M. Farrell, Nicole Curato, John S. Dryzek, Brigitte Geißel, Kimmo Grönlund, Sofie Marien, Simon Niemeyer, Jean-Benoit Pilet, Alan Renwick, Jonathan Rose, Maija Setälä, and Jane Suiter. "Deliberative Mini-Publics: Core Design Features." 2019/4 Niemeyer, Simon. "Intersubjective Reasoning in Political Deliberation: A Theory and Method for Assessing Deliberative Transformation at Small and Large Scale." 2019/3 Pickering, Jonathan. "Deliberative Ecologies: Engaging Complexity Theory to Understand How Deliberative Systems Emerge and Change." 2019/2 Alver, Jane. "Developing a Regional Voice Through a Feminist Forum: The Case of the Pacific Feminist Forum." 2019/1 Curato, Nicole. "From Authoritarian Enclave to Deliberative Space: Governance Logics in Post-Disaster Reconstruction." (Published in Disasters) 2017/3 Asenbaum, Hans. "Revisiting E-Topia: Theoretical Approaches and Empirical Findings on Online Anonymity." 2017/2 Bhatia, Udit. "Cracking the Whip: The Deliberative Costs of Strict Party Discipline." (Published in CRISPP) 2017/1 Nishiyama, Kei. "Enabling Children's Deliberation Schools as a Mediating Space in Deliberative Systems." (Published in Journal of Youth Studies) 2016/2 Dryzek, John S. and Pickering, Jonathan. "Deliberation as a Catalyst for Reflexive Environmental Governance." (Published in Ecological Economics) 2016/1 Jennstål, Julia. "Deliberative Participation and Personality: The Effect of Traits, Situations and Motivation." 2015/1 Pickering, Jonathan. "Top-down proposals for sharing the global climate policy effort fairly: lost in translation in a bottom-up world?" (Published in Routledge) 2014/2 Curato, Nicole and Ong, Jonathan. "Inclusion as Deliberative Agency: The Selective Representation of Poor Women in Reproductive Health Debates." 2014/1 Jennstål, Julia and Simon Niemeyer. "The Deliberative Citizen: The Role of Personality and Context in Deliberative Behaviour." Load More Older Working Paper Series 2014/4 Smith, William. "Disrupting Deliberation: The Impact of Political Protest on Deliberative Systems.", University of Canberra, Canberra. Access > 2014/3 Parry, Lucy. "Q Study in Waiting.", University of Canberra, Canberra. (Published in British Politics) Access > 2013/1 Niemeyer, Simon, Andrea Felicetti & Olga Di Ruggero. "Provisional Report - Analysis of the Citizens’ Initiative Review.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2012/2 Batalha, Luisa, Simon Niemeyer, Nicole Curato, John Dryzek & John Gastil. "Group dynamics and deliberative processes: Cognitive and Affective aspects.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2012/1 Niemeyer, Simon. "Building the Foundations of Deliberative Democracy: The Deliberative Person.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2011/5 Stevenson, Hayley. "Democratising the Governance of Climate Technologies.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2011/4 Niemeyer, Simon, Kersty Hobson, Jacqui Russell, Imagen Ord-Evans, John Boswell & Elaine dos Santos. "Participant Recommendations and Report: Climate Change and the Public Sphere Project.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2011/3 Goodin, Robert. "Democratising International Law.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2011/2 Stephenson, Hayley and John Dryzek. "Democratising climate governance through discursive engagement.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > 2011/1 Stevenson, Hayley. "Representing "The Peoples"?.", The Australian National University, Canberra. Access > Load More

< Back Beyond residual realisms: Four paths for remaking participation with science and democracy Matthew Kearnes, University of New South Wales Tue 12 December 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract In light of the contestation of the purposes and objectives of contemporary techno-political decision-making, and the emergence of a more questioning and ambivalent response to assertions of authoritative expertise, attempts to generate socially resilient political settlements across an array of policy domains have increasingly called upon the logics of ‘democratic participation’. In this context, contemporary scientific and environmental policy is increasingly characterised by institutional commitments to fostering public engagement and participation with science, together with greater transparency in the deployment of scientific expertise in decision-making. However, despite notable successes, such developments have often struggled to enhance public trust and build more socially responsive and responsible science and technology. In this paper, we argue a central reason for this is that mainstream approaches to public engagement harbour ‘residual realist’ assumptions about participation and the public. Recent studies in ‘science and technology studies’ (STS) offer an alternative way of seeing participation as co-produced, relational and emergent. In this paper, we build on these approaches by setting out a framework comprising of four interrelating paths and associated criteria for remaking public participation with science and democracy in more experimental, reflexive, anticipatory, and responsible ways. This comprises moves to: forge reflexive participatory practices that attend to their framing, emergence, uncertainties, and effects; ecologise participation through attending to the interrelations between diverse public engagements; catalyse practices of anticipatory reflection to bring about responsible democratic innovations; and reconstitute participation as constitutive of (not separate from) systems of science and democracy. We close by offering some reflections on the ways in which these approaches might be taken up in both analytically and normatively inspired work and scholarship. About the speaker Matthew Kearnes is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and member of the of Environmental Humanities Group at the School of Humanities and Languages, University of New South Wales. Before arriving at UNSW he held post-doctoral positions at the Department of Geography at the Open University and the Centre for the Study of Environmental Change/Department of Sociology at Lancaster University. Most recently he held a Research Councils UK Fellowship at the Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience/Department of Geography, Durham University. Matthew's research is situated between the fields of Science and Technology Studies (STS), human geography and contemporary social theory. His current work is focused on the social and political dimensions of technological and environmental change, including ongoing work on the development of negative emission strategies and soil carbon sequestration. He has published widely on the ways in which the development of novel and emerging technologies is entangled with profound social, ethical and normative questions. Matthew serves on the editorial board Science, Technology and Society (Sage) and on the advisory panel for Science as Culture (Taylor & Francis). For more information about Matthew’s research please visit https://research.unsw.edu.au/people/dr-matthew-benjamin-kearnes and at @mbkearnes Previous Next

< Back Decision makers with a deliberative stance? The hidden world of public deliberation between ministers and their publics Carolyn Hendriks, Australian National University Tue 7 June 2016 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract In this seminar I will discuss a work-in-progress paper that I am currently co-authoring with Associate Professor Jennifer Lees Marshment, University of Auckland. Much of the democratic burden in deliberative democracy rests on effective communication taking place between potentially affected publics and those empowered to make decisions. Yet remarkably little is known about the way contemporary decision makers receive and make collective sense of multiple forms of public input. In our paper we prise open this ‘black box’ by discussing ground breaking empirical findings on how senior political decision makers themselves understand the relationship between public input and their work. An analysis over 50 interviews with former ministers and state secretaries in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand finds that political leaders based at the federal or national level view public input as an integral component of their work. Decision makers place a high premium on personal interactions with the public, such as conversations with individual citizens, or one-one-one exchanges with affected groups. In these informal interactions, decision makers connect with everyday people, hear ‘real world’ stories and learn how issues affect people’s lives. This represents a hidden world of public deliberation taking place between decision makers and their publics that has hitherto been hidden from debates in deliberative democracy. The paper considers what these findings imply for public deliberation, particularly the place of leaders and executive government in contemporary deliberative systems. Please find here the paper. About the speaker Carolyn M. Hendriks is an Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University. Her work examines democratic aspects of contemporary governance, particularly with respect to participation, deliberation, inclusion and representation. She has taught and published widely on democratic innovation, public deliberation, network governance and environmental politics. Carolyn is an appointed member of newDemocracy's Research Committee and sits on the editorial board of several international journals, including the European Journal of Political Research. Previous Next

Jonathan Pickering and Pierrick Chalaye < Back Research report: Towards a coherent energy transition: expanding renewable energy and reducing inequalities in Australia Investigator(s): Jonathan Pickering and Pierrick Chalaye In this report, Jonathan Pickering and Pierrick Chalaye explore the synergies and tensions between the expansion of renewable energy and efforts to reduce inequalities in Australia . Read and download the report here: Energy transition report (Dec 2023)

Former PhD student < Back Katherine Curchin Former PhD student About Katherine is an applied political philosopher with research interests in normative political philosophy, social policy and Indigenous policy in Australia. Katherine completed her PhD in Political Science under the supervision of Prof John Dryzek in 2010. Her doctoral thesis drew upon deliberative democratic theory to explore the ethics of criticising other cultures.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow < Back Beibei Tang Postdoctoral Research Fellow About Trained as a sociologist, Beibei Tan's research focuses on social and political change in reform-era China. She has participated in three interdisciplinary research projects in the fields of sociology, political science and human geography.

Publications End of Year Report 2024 Center for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance 2024 , University of Canberra Read more Building Democratic Resilience: Public Sphere Responses to Violent Extremism Selen A. Ercan, Jordan McSwiney, Peter Balint, and John S. Dryzek 2022 , State of NSW, Department of Premier and Cabinet Read more Research Methods in Deliberative Democracy Selen A. Ercan, Hans Asenbaum, Nicole Curato, Ricardo F. Mendonca 2022 , Oxford University Press Read more Democratizing Global Justice: Deliberating Global Goals Dryzek, J.S. and Tanasoca, A. 2021 , Cambridge University Press Read more Deliberative Minipublics: Core Design Features Curato, N., Farrell D., Geißel, B., Grönlund, K., Mockler, P., Renwick, A., Rose, J., Setälä, M. and Suiter, J. 2021 , Bristol Policy Press Read more Mending Democracy: Democratic Repair in Disconnected Times Carolyn M. Hendriks, Selen A. Ercan, and John Boswell 2020 , Oxford University Press Read more The Political Economy of Devolution in Britain from the Postwar Era to Brexit Nick Vlahos 2020 , Palgrave Read more Assessing the poor’s deliberative agency in media-saturated societies Nicole Curato 2020 , Theory and Society. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-020-09421-1 Read more Mapping and Measuring Deliberation: Towards a New Deliberative Quality André Bächtiger and John Parkinson 2019 , Oxford University Press Read more The Politics of the Anthropocene John S. Dryzek, Jonathan Pickering 2019 , Oxford University Press Read more 1 2 1 ... 1 2 ... 2

John Dryzek, Selen Ercan and Lucy J. Parry < Back Participedia Investigator(s): John Dryzek, Selen Ercan and Lucy J. Parry Funded through the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, the Project Team includes: John Dryzek Selen Ercan Lucy J. Parry. Project Description In recent years, there has been a rapid development of participatory and democratic innovations around the world, with new channels of citizen engagement in politics often falling outside the realm of electoral representation and legislature. Participedia is an online, user-generated collaborative project documenting this growing compendium of participatory politics. It aims to map innovative processes as they develop in almost every country, and provide researchers and practitioners with accessible information, tools and good practice. The Australian contingent of this project builds on the existing Australian catalogue and will provide robust, systematic and practical information on the variety of democratic innovations from all over Australia. The project aims to 1) comprehensively catalogue current and past participatory Australian political processes and 2) explore emergent themes and lessons from Australian cases 3) develop a future research agenda for learning across cases to provide systematic and practical advice for researchers and practitioners worldwide. These objectives feed into Participedia’s primary aims of mapping democratic innovations, explaining and assessing their contribution to democracy and most importantly, transferring this knowledge back into practice.

Latest News - Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance < Back Tackling far-right extremism: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Jordan McSwiney, gets among the experts 17 May 2023 Congratulations to our Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Jordan McSwiney. Jordan has been accepted into the Younger Fellow Visiting Program at the Centre for Research on Extremism (C-REX), located at the University of Oslo. Launched in 2016, C-REX is a cross-disciplinary centre for the study of right-wing extremism, hate crime and political violence. Jordan will join leading scholars in this highly topical subject and will present his work on far-right violent extremism and political parties during his fellowship. Asked what he is most looking forward to during the fellowship, Jordan said that he is keen to learn more about the aftermath of the July 2011 attacks and its impact on Norwegian society. His residency at the centre may also provide insights into the indicators of democratic resilience for other communities around the world and will be a great opportunity to build ties that could strengthen our centre’s own Democratic Resilience Project.

< Back COMPARING DEMOCRATIC INNOVATIONS Matt Ryan, University of Southampton Tue 5 June 2018 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract Systematic comparisons of democratic institutions, devices, and processes provide a unique quality of knowledge that helps us learn how to improve governance in democracies. The research agenda inspired by the deliberative turn in democratic theory has moved in an increasingly empirical direction, with large scale data-collection an ever more prominent feature of research in the subfield of democratic innovations. Nevertheless, systematic comparisons of more than a handful of cases are still rare. Comparing a large number of democratic innovations presents conceptual challenges and sampling and publication biases have often reinforced a scholarly focus on ‘best practices’ at the expense of learning from failure and variation. In this presentation I report the results of systematic comparisons of more than a handful of cases of democratic innovation by systematically cumulating existing research. In particular I highlight different combinations of conditions that explain citizen control of decision-making worldwide. I show that even though comparing a large number of cases presents methodological and conceptual challenges, engagement with the task is a requirement if our explanatory theories are to be improved. About the speaker Dr Matt Ryan is Lecturer in Governance and Public Policy at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on democratic innovation and participation in politics, the policymaking process, and social science research methods. His most recent publications appear in European Journal of Political Research, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Local Government Studies, Journal of Public Deliberation and PS: Political Science and Politics. 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

Latest News - Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance < Back Call for Workshop Papers: Future-proofing the public sphere, QUT Mar 2024 3 Oct 2023 Important update: Application deadline extended to 3 November! Join us for a research workshop at QUT in 21-22 March 2024, exploring the future of the public sphere, in Australia and beyond. Designed for Australian-based ECRs and HDRs, the workshop is co-hosted by the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (University of Canberra) and the Digital Media Research Centre (QUT) and funded by the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA). Abstract and short CV to be submitted by 27 October. For enquiries, please contact: Adele Webb ( Adele.Webb@canberra.edu.au ) Katharina Esau ( Katharina.Esau@qut.edu.au )

< Back Hendrik Wagenaar Adjunct Professor About Hendrik Wagenaar is internationally renowned for his research on participatory democracy and local governance, practice theory and interpretive policy analysis, including projects on urban governance, prostitution policy, social welfare, policy implementation and the (unintended) consequences of public policy making.

< Back Vicky Darling Adjunct Professor About Vicky Darling specialises in community engagement and civic participation, strategic planning and governance advice. She also has expertise in change management, workplace culture and research and policy design.

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 HOW DO SETTLER-COLONIAL INEQUALITIES SHAPE POLITICAL BEHAVIOUR AND COMMUNICATION IN ANGLO-DEMOCRACIES? About this event Social structure becomes internalized as cognitive dispositions that shape social action (Bourdieu 2000). In settler-colonial societies, how do White settlers’ cognitive dispositions—specifically, White settlers’ racial attitudes—shape political behaviour and communication? Can we design interventions so that political discourse (talking through disagreement) improves White settlers’ outgroup attitudes? In this talk, Professor Edana Beauvais gives an overview of her research on the political consequences of White settlers’ racial attitudes. She also discusses the results of an experiment that varied communication style (rational-legal speech versus personal storytelling) to see if personal storytelling could improve White settlers’ attitudes toward Indigenous peoples. Edana Beauvais is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University. She is the Chair of the Participedia Democracy and Digital Communication Cluster and the President of the American Political Science Association’s Democratic Innovations Group. Before joining SFU, she held a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University, a Visiting Democracy Fellowship at the Ash Center, Harvard University, and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship, McGill University. She is interested in the way inequalities shape communication and action, producing unequal political influence between different social group members. Seminar series convenors: Hans Asenbaum and Sahana Sehgal. Please register via Eventbrite . Previous Next

< Back The newDemocracy Foundation: How might institutional collaboration be cultivated? Lyn Carson, newDemocracy Foundation Tue 20 March 2018 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract The newDemocracy Foundation (nDF) has ten years of experience with the practice of mini publics. The energy for change, employing deliberative methods, is clearly increasing. As a research foundation, nDF occasionally commissions external research as well as performing critical analysis and critical reflection in-house. nDF’s latest focus has been on critical thinking and unconscious biases amongst randomly-selected participants—specifically, how to enhance critical capacities of participants and to improve awareness of unexamined biases within both participants and experts. Carson will provide descriptions of current and potential projects (local and global) and discuss gaps in knowledge and potentially-fruitful future research. About the speaker Lyn Carson is a former professor in applied politics at the University of Sydney Business School, currently an honorary professor with the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, adjunct professor with the University of Western Sydney, and associate of the Centre for Deliberative Democracy & Global Governance at the University of Canberra. ‘Carson’ also currently serves as newDemocracy’s research director. She has written handbooks on community engagement and many articles and book chapters on public participation, including a book, with Brian Martin, Random Selection in Politics (1999) and co-edited The Australian Citizens’ Parliament & The Future of Deliberative Democracy (2013). Previous Next

John Dryzek, Lyn Carson, Simon Niemeyer, Janette Hartz-Karp, Ian Marsh, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Luisa Batalha, Nicole Curato < Back Creating And Analysing A Citizens' Parliament: Exploring The Public's Deliberative Capacity Investigator(s): John Dryzek, Lyn Carson, Simon Niemeyer, Janette Hartz-Karp, Ian Marsh, Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Luisa Batalha, Nicole Curato Funded through Linkage Project (LP0882714) ($291,575), the Project Team includes: John Dryzek, Chief Investigator Lyn Carson, Chief Investigator Simon Niemeyer, Chief Investigator Janette Hartz-Karp, Chief Investigator Ian Marsh, Chief Investigator Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, Partner Investigator Luisa Batalha, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Nicole Curato, Postdoctoral Research Fellow Project Webpage http://www.citizensparliament.org.au/ Project Description The pioneering Australian Citizens’ Parliament was held in February 2009 in Old Parliament House, Canberra. The participants were 150 ordinary Australians, selected by stratified random sampling, one from each federal electoral district. They deliberated the question ‘How can Australia’s political system be strengthened to serve us better?’ The project generated a mountain of quantitative and qualitative data which is now being analysed. You can find out more by viewing the informational video of the process.

< Back Diasporas involved: How Jewish diaspora is involved in constitutional deliberations in Israel Shay Keinan, Australian National University Tue 2 June 2015 11:00am - 12:00pm Fishbowl, Building 24, University of Canberra Abstract Diaspora studies has emerged as a distinct academic field in recent years, focusing on the relationship between dispersed ethnic populations and their countries of origin (“kin-states”). Democratic states face increasing challenges when interacting with these often large and influential groups: How and to what extent can a democracy accommodate the interests of non-citizens who nevertheless maintain a strong connection to the nation kin-state? In this paper I suggest that deliberative democratic theory can be useful in addressing such issues of diaspora involvement. Deliberative processes can enable people in the diaspora to affect the shaping of laws in their kin-states in ways other than voting. One way this can be done is by allowing diaspora representatives to participate in deliberations that take place in Constitutional Courts regarding constitutional matters that are of special relevance to diaspora populations. For concrete examples, I refer to illustrative cases from the Israeli Supreme Court, in which diaspora groups have been involved in deliberations regarding constitutional questions with direct impacts on the Jewish diaspora, their relationship with the state of Israel and the rights of Israel’s minorities. About the speaker Shay Keinan is a PhD candidate at the ANU College of Law, he holds an LLB degree (magna cum laude) from Tel Aviv University and an LLM degree from the University of Hamburg, Bologna University and the University of Manchester. Previous Next