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Nicole Curato < Back Beyond Demagogues and Deplorables: Transforming populist rhetoric for participatory futures Project Team: Nicole Curato Funded through Toyota Foundation Research Grant Program 2017 ($20,270), the Project Team includes: Nicole Curato, Chief Investigator Bianca Ysabelle Franco, Research Associate Septrin John Calamba, Research Associate Project Description There are many reasons to think of populism as the opposite of reasonable discussion. Populism appeals to base instincts, sacrificing intellectual rigour in favour of quick solutions. Its polarising speech style creates information silos which inflames prejudices instead of promoting understanding. This project challenges the dichotomy between populism and reasonable discussion. It investigates how the rhetoric of populism can be transformed to meaningful political conversations. The vision is to find practical ways in which societies can be hospitable to inclusive, reflective, and other-regarding discussions amidst deep divisions. Attention is focused on the case of the Philippines under the regime of President Rodrigo Duterte, but the lessons can be applied to various contexts where populist rhetoric has gained traction. The strategy is simple. A series of deliberative forums will be convened where citizens can reflect on the character of political talk in the Philippines and propose possibilities for enhancing political discussions today. Findings from this citizen-driven forum will be used to forge conversations with government, media, and other stakeholders. Overall, the project aims to make an evidence-based contribution to the future of participatory communication in populist times.

Nicole Curato and April Porteria < Back Building Back Better: Participatory Governance In A Post-Haiyan World Project Team: Nicole Curato and April Porteria Funding through Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE150101866) ($324,557) The project Team includes Nicole Curato (Chief Investigator) and April Porteria (Research Assistant) Project Description 'Building back better' has become a global mantra for countries recovering from disasters. This project aims to examine how this principle can be extended from rebuilding disaster-resilient physical infrastructure to rehabilitating institutions of participatory governance to ensure the inclusive and empowering character of recovery efforts. Through a multi-sited ethnography in cities worst hit by the 2013 Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, a theoretically-informed and empirically-grounded analytical toolkit that gauges the democratic quality of post-disaster reconstruction will be developed. The project aims to generate insights into the precise ways in which participatory governance can also be 'built better' in a post-Haiyan world. Project Outputs Curato, Nicole (in press) Democracy in a Time of Misery: From Spectacular Tragedies to Deliberative Action . Oxford: Oxford University Press. Curato, Nicole (2016) Politics of Anxiety, Politics of Hope: Penal Populism and Duterte’s Rise to Power. Journal of Contemporary Southeast Asian Affairs 35(3): 91-109 . Curato, N. (2017) Flirting with Authoritarian Fantasies? Rodrigo Duterte and the New Terms of Philippine Populism. Journal of Contemporary Asia 47(1): 142-153. Webb, Adele and Curato, Nicole (2018) ‘Populism in the Philippines’ in Populism Around the World , D. Stockemer (ed). Berlin: Springer. pp. 49-65. Curato, Nicole and Ong, Jonathan C. (2018) ‘Who laughs at a rape joke? Crass politics and ethical responsiveness in Rodrigo Duterte’s Philippines,’ in Ethical Responsiveness and the Politics of Difference , T. Dreher and A. Mondal (eds.) New York: Palgrave. pp. 117-132. Curato, Nicole, Ong, Jonathan C. and Longboan, Liezel (2016) ‘Protest as Interruption of the Disaster Imaginary: Overcoming Voice-Denying Rationalities in Post-Haiyan Philippines,’ in Taking the Square: Mediated Dissent and Occupations of Public Space , M. Rovisco and J. Ong (eds.) London: Rowman and Littlefield. Curato, Nicole and Calamba, Septrin (online first) ‘Surviving disasters by suppressing political storms: Participation as knowledge-transfer in community-based disaster governance.’ Critical Sociology . Curato, Nicole (2018) From Authoritarian Enclaves to Deliberative Utopia? Governance logics in post-disaster reconstruction. Disasters 42(4): 635-654. Curato, Nicole (2018) Beyond the Spectacle: Slow-Moving Disasters in post-Haiyan Philippines.’ Critical Asian Studies 50(1): 58-66. (Special Issue Editor) Curato, Nicole (2017) We haven’t even buried the dead yet: The ethics of discursive contestation in a crisis situation. Current Sociology 65(7): 1010-1030. Public Engagement (select list) In the Philippines, All the President’s People , Commissioned piece for The New York Times The Power and Limits of Populism in the Philippines , Commissioned piece for Current History The Philippines Beyond the Dark Spell , Commissioned piece for AsiaGlobal Online The presidency in the age of misery , Rappler.com Social injustice in the age of Instagram , Rappler.com The Mayors of Tacloban , short film co-produced with Patricia Evangelista for Rappler.com

John S. Dryzek, Simon Niemeyer, Nicole Curato < Back Global Citizen Deliberation: Analysing a Deliberative Documentary Project Team: John S. Dryzek, Simon Niemeyer, Nicole Curato Funded by Australian Research Council Linkage Project (AU$439,000), the Project Team includes: John S. Dryzek Simon Niemeyer Nicole Curato Global Citizen Deliberation: Analysing a Deliberative Documentary. The project aims to enact and film the world’s first truly global citizens’ deliberation, a global citizens’ assembly (GCA) on genome editing, and proceed to analyse the impact of the ‘deliberative documentary’ film on public understanding of complex, fast-evolving science and technology. It will investigate the cross-cultural capacity of citizens to deliberate complex value-laden issues, and so ascertain prospects for an informed global public response to challenges posed by genome editing. Research will test the effects of the deliberative documentary on viewers, examining benefits of communicating complex issues via the work of the GCA. Other benefits include improving public trust in governance and advancing the Australian film industry.

Selen A. Ercan, Jordan McSwiney, John S. Dryzek, and Peter Balint < Back Building Democratic Resilience: Public Sphere Responses to Extremism Project Team: Selen A. Ercan, Jordan McSwiney, John S. Dryzek, and Peter Balint Project Description How should the public sphere institutions and actors respond to the threats posed by the violent extremism? Drawing on the theory and practice of deliberative democracy, this project seeks to develop a framework for assessing and improving the public sphere responses to violent extremism in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It seeks to explain how ‘democratic resilience’ differs from and supplements ‘community resilience’, which is the current resilience framework used by the NSW Government. The project will provide practical recommendations for public servants, policy makers and the journalists working to develop strategies for tackling violent extremism. While the primary focus of the project is NSW Government CVE practice, the project takes a broader approach and engages with both national and international practice in tackling violent extremism. The project is funded by the NSW Government, Premier and Cabinet, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program 2022. Project Outputs Ercan, S. A., McSwiney, J., Balint, P., and Dryzek, J. S. (2022). Building Democratic Resilience: Public Sphere Responses to Violent Extremism . Technical Report for Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Program. Public Engagement Ercan, S.A, McSwiney, J., and Balint, P. (2022) Learning Democratic Resilience. Preliminary Findings and Recommendations , NSW Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Connected Communities, 23 March (virtual). Ercan, S.A. (2022) Deliberative Democracy: Theory and Practice, NSW Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Connected Communities, 19 May (virtual). Ercan, S.A., McSwiney, J., Balint, P., and Dryzek, J. (2022) Learning Democratic Resilience , NSW Government Stakeholders, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Connected Communities, 8 June (virtual). Balint, P., McSwiney, J. and Ercan, S.A. (2022) Learning Democratic Resilience , Resilient Democracy for Resilient Communities, Charles Sturt University, Sydney, 23 August. Ercan, S.A., McSwiney, J., Balint, P. (2022) Contemporary Threats to the Public Sphere , Panel at the Australian Political Studies Association General Conference, Australian National University, Canberra, 26-28 September. McSwiney, J., Ercan, S.A. and Balint, P. (2022) Report Launch and Panel Discussion: Building Democratic Resilience , Freilich Project for the Study of Bigotry , Australian National University, Canberra, 13 October. Recording available here . McSwiney, J. (2022) Future Flux , Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Canberra, 17 October. McSwiney, J. (2022) Democratic Resilience: Public Sphere Responses to Violent Extremism , Threat Briefing Webinar #14 , Charles Sturt University, 27 October (virtual). McSwiney, J., Ercan, S.A, Balint, P., and Dryzek, J. (2022) Building Democratic Resilience: How the Public Sphere Responses to Violent Extremism . AVERT Research Symposium , Deakin University, Melbourne, 21-22 November. Ercan, S.A. and McSwiney, J. (2023) Building Democratic Resilience, Connected Communities—Strengthening Social Cohesion and Democratic Resilience , NSW Government, Department of Premier and Cabinet, Sydney, 16 March (virtual).

Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance < Back Multiculturalism and Belonging in Australian Democracy Project Team: Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance Call for Participants: Deliberative Workshop 4 July 2025 | Canberra Are you aged 18–30, living in the ACT, and either you or your parents were born overseas? We’d love to hear from you! We're inviting expressions of interest for our Multiculturalism and Belonging deliberative workshop this July at the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House . This workshop is a unique opportunity for young people to: Share their lived experiences of multiculturalism in Australia Reflect on what it means to belong — in society and in our democracy Contribute to research by the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and University of Canberra If you know someone who fits the criteria, please share this opportunity with them! Participants will receive $250 for their time and contributions. Registration: https://bit.ly/4k6He6O For questions, contact the Project Lead, Dr Adele Webb at Adele.Webb@canberra.edu.au EOIs close 6 June This research forms part of our Centre’s flagship project, Connecting to Parliament, which explores how to strengthen the relationship between citizens and democratic institutions. It is also one of our signature contributions to the Participedia project.

Nicole Curato, Selen A. Ercan, John Dryzek and Simon Niemeyer < Back Monitoring Deliberative Integrity in Australia Project Team: Nicole Curato, Selen A. Ercan, John Dryzek and Simon Niemeyer Funded by the Australian Research Council Special Research Initiative (AU$ 202,156) Project Description This project aims to develop and apply the concept of deliberative integrity as a counterpart to more familiar ideas about electoral integrity in the evaluation of democratic processes. The project develops significant new knowledge about the ethical conduct of Australian citizen engagement processes through conceptual and methodological innovation to produce a Deliberative Integrity Monitoring Tool that will be applied to the expanding range of deliberative democratic innovations in Australia. More on this project: https://deliberativeintegrityproject.org

David Schlosberg and Simon Niemeyer < Back Rethinking Climate Justice In An Age Of Adaptation: Capabilities, Local Variation, And Public Deliberation Project Team: David Schlosberg and Simon Niemeyer Funding through Discovery Project (DP120104797) ($250,000), the Project Team includes David Schlosberg (Chief Investigator) and Simon Niemeyer (Chief Investigator) Project Description This project aims to produce recommendations, designed by citizens and stakeholders, for climate adaptation policies in three regions of Australia. These recommendations will be based on a definition of climate justice that incorporates basic needs and resources to be protected, as identified by impacted communities.

< Back Nicole Curato Adjunct Professor About Nicole Curato is a Professor of Democratic Governance at the University of Birmingham's School of Government. Previously, she was a professor at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, where she founded the Deliberative Democracy Summer School, edited the Journal of Deliberative Democracy, and led the development of the MPP unit on Co-Design and Deliberative Engagement. She also founded the Global Citizens' Assembly Network. A recipient of five Australian Research Council grants (DECRA, Future Fellowship, Linkage Project, Discovery Project, Special Research Initiative), she has led groundbreaking research on deliberative democracy in fragile and conflict-affected settings and developed the theory and practice of deliberative integrity.

< Back Wendy Conway-Lamb Postdoctoral research fellow About Dr Wendy Conway-Lamb is a researcher and practitioner with around twenty years of experience working on climate change, international development, and inclusive decision-making. Her areas of expertise include climate adaptation and resilience; climate and energy justice; deliberative democracy; global climate governance; community engagement; and international development. Wendy recently completed her PhD on Democratic Frontiers in Climate Governance at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy , University of Canberra. In her PhD thesis, she examined the challenges of pursuing democratic approaches to climate change decision-making in three critical and overlapping areas: global climate governance; adaptation to climate impacts in the Global South; and climate cooperation in authoritarian contexts. With empirical case studies ranging from adaptation in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, to the world’s first Global Citizens’ Assembly on climate change, Wendy’s fundamental research interest is in exploring how those most directly affected by climate change – and measures to address it – can be meaningfully included in climate governance at all scales. Dr Wendy Conway-Lamb is currently working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Canberra, based at the Centre for Environmental Governance and the Centre for Deliberative Democracy, where she is working on the ARC-funded Discovery project, Just Transmission: Advancing Coherence in Australia’s Electricity Policy . This project is examining – from an energy justice perspective – how regional communities in Victoria and New South Wales are being affected by, and engaged in, plans to build new high-voltage transmission lines to deliver electricity from renewable power stations across the country as part of Australia’s energy transition. Beyond academia, Wendy has worked for a variety of organisations, including the Australian Government, NGOs, think tanks, and the United Nations. Her skills encompass research and analysis; policy and technical advice; program design and evaluation; team leadership; public diplomacy; teaching and facilitation. She has experience working across the Indo-Pacific region, with a particular focus on Vietnam and Southeast Asia. Connect on LinkedIn University of Canberra Researcher Profile Connect on Google Scholar Published journal articles Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2025). Influencing Climate Change Adaptation in Authoritarian States: A Deliberative Systems Analysis in Vietnam’. Environmental Politics 0 (0): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1080/09644016.2025.2557058 . Conway-Lamb, Wendy, Pierrick Chalaye, Kari De Pryck, Stephen Elstub, Emerson M. Sanchez, and Novieta H. Sari (2025). Analysing the Global Assembly’s Influence: The Challenges of Linking to the Deliberative System of Global Climate Governance. Environmental Science & Policy 171 (104124): 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104124 . De Pryck, Kari, Pierrick Chalaye, Wendy Conway-Lamb, Stephen Elstub, Emerson M. Sanchez, and Novieta H. Sari (2025). The Global Climate Assembly: A New Global Deliberative Space? In Climate Assemblies: New Civic Institutions for a Climate-Changed World , edited by Oliver Escobar and Stephen Elstub. De Gruyter. https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111328393-015/html . Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2024). Pluralizing Climate Change Adaptation: Mapping Discourses in Vietnam. Climate and Development. 17 (4): 285–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/17565529.2024.2361797 . Other publications Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2026). Democratic Frontiers in Climate Governance: Adaptation, Authoritarian States, Global and Multi-Level Decision-Making . PhD Thesis. University of Canberra. https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/studentTheses/democratic-frontiers-in-climate-governance-adaptation-authoritari/ . Curato, Chalaye, Conway-Lamb, De Pryck, Elstub, Morán, Oppold, Romero, Ross, Sanchez, Sari, Stasiak, Tilikete, Veloso, von Schneidemesser, and Werner (2023). Global Assembly on the Climate and Ecological Crisis: Evaluation Report. University of Canberra. https://researchsystem.canberra.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/82182314/Global_Assembly_Evaluation_Report.pdf Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2021). Climate Change . A non-fiction book for disadvantaged school children in the Asia-Pacific region. Library for All Digital Library for the World, libraryforall.org Conference papers Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2024) ‘What does adaptation justice mean to people affected by climate impacts?’ Human Geographies of Climate Change Adaptation conference , Bergen, May 2024 Conway-Lamb, Wendy & Pickering, Jonathan (2022) ‘The case for democratizing global adaptation governance’, Earth System Governance conference , Toronto, Oct 2022 Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2018), ‘Beyond the vertical hierarchy paradigm: a deliberative systems approach to adaptation governance’, IPSA World Congress of Political Science , Brisbane, July 2018 Conway-Lamb, Wendy (2018), ‘Inclusive multi-level adaptation governance: a deliberative systems approach’, Adaptation Futures , Cape Town, June 2018 Research Projects Just Transmission: Advancing Coherence in Australia’s Electricity Policy , ARC-funded Discovery Project (2025 – 2028), Postdoctoral Research Fellow Global Assembly on the Climate and Ecological Crisis (2021 - 2025), Member of Research and Evaluation Team Australian Citizens’ Jury on Genome Editing (2020-2021), Facilitator of deliberations Deliberative Worlds: Democracy, Justice and a Changing Earth System , Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship Project (2016 - 2020), PhD Scholarship Teaching experience International Climate Change Policy and Economics, Masters level course, Australian National University (co-convenor, tutor, guest lecturer) Domestic Climate Change Policy and Economics, Masters level course, Australian National University (tutor, guest lecturer) Affiliations Research fellow, Earth System Governance Network Research Associate, Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Research Network

Current Staff Mohammad Abdul-Hwas Research Assistant View Profile John S. Dryzek Distinguished Professor Emeritus View Profile Harshith Ghanta Research Assistant View Profile Jordan McSwiney Senior Research Fellow View Profile Jonathan Pickering Associate Professor View Profile Adele Webb Research Fellow View Profile Hans Asenbaum Associate Professor and Centre Director View Profile Madeleine Egan PhD Candidate View Profile Anne Nygaard Jedzini PhD Candidate View Profile Olivia Mendoza PhD Candidate View Profile Ferdinand Sanchez Research Assistant View Profile Dakila Yee PhD Student View Profile Elise Clark PhD student View Profile Selen A. Ercan Professor View Profile Friedel Marquardt Research Assistant View Profile Simon Niemeyer Professor View Profile Emanuela Savini Practice Lead & Lecturer View Profile Wendy Conway-Lamb Postdoctoral research fellow View Profile Emily Foley Postdoctoral Research Fellow View Profile Amy McGregor-Dainton PhD Candidate View Profile Lucy J. Parry Senior Research Associate View Profile Sahana Sehgal PhD Candidate View Profile

Latest News - Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance Latest News New Report Unpacks Risks to the Integrity of Deliberative Mini-Publics Date: 17 Feb 2025 On 11 February 2025, close to 100 academics, practitioners, and policymakers joined the launch of Deliberative Integrity: Risks and Responses in Mini-Public Governance, authored by Dr Lucy J. Parry and Professor Nicole Curato (University of Canberra). The report highlights risks facing deliberative mini-publics (DMPs) and offers strategies to safeguard their integrity. Read More Welcoming our new PhD and honours students to the Centre Date: 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. Read More [Event Invitation] Book Launch: Democracy versus Diablo in the USA and Australia Date: 14 June 2024 You are invited to a participatory book launch for André Bächtiger and John S. Dryzek, Deliberative Democracy for Diabolical Times: Confronting Populism, Extremism, Denial, and Authoritarianism. Read More 2024 Deliberative Democracy Summer School Date: 22 Mar 2024 On 7-9 February, the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance (CDDGG) hosted the 2024 Deliberative Democracy Summer School at the Ann Harding Conference Centre, University of Canberra. Read More The CDDGG 10-Year Anniversary Seminar Series Date: 31 Jan 2024 In 2024 the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, at the University of Canberra, turns 10 years old. In celebration, we are organising a seminar series that is open to all, addressing 10 of the most pressing questions facing deliberate democracy today. Read More Democratic Transformations: A conversation on systemic change Date: 12 Jan 2024 Democratic Transformations: A conversation on systemic change On 6 February 2024 at Juliet Room, Verity Lane Market, Sydney Building, 50 Northbourne Avenue, Canberra ACT Reception: 5:30 pm Panel discussion: 6:00 – 7:15 pm Read More 2023 APSA Lifetime Achievement Award Date: 8 Dec 2023 Distinguished Professor John Dryzek has received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) during the award ceremony held at the University of Sydney on 29 November 2023. Read More Call for Workshop Papers: Future-proofing the public sphere, QUT Mar 2024 Date: 3 Oct 2023 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. Read More Dr Sonia Bussu’s visit sparks new collaborations Date: 29 Sept 2023 This month, we were excited to host Dr Sonia Bussu from The Institute of Local Government Studies (INLOGOV), University of Birmingham as a visiting scholar between 17 September to 30 September 2023. Dr Bussu works in the areas of participatory democracy and public policy. Her research aims to bridge divides between different literatures concerned with citizen engagement, social justice, and intersectional inclusion. She studies how participatory deliberative democracy, social movements, the commons, coproduction, community activism, participatory research can all enrich one another. Read More Our Senior Research Fellow, Dr Hans Asenbaum, has published his new book 'The Politics of Becoming' Date: 21 Sept 2023 A hearty congratulations to Dr Hans Asenbaum from the Centre for his new (open access) publication with Oxford University Press, The Politics of Becoming – Anonymity and Democracy in the Digital Age. The book focuses on practical solutions to the problems of discrimination and identity confinement in political participation. Throughout the book, Dr Asenbaum hopes to facilitate an interdisciplinary exchange between different academic disciplines and different strands of democratic theory. Read More Olivia Mendoza has received the prestigious Deliberative Democracy PhD Scholarship Date: 1 Sept 2023 This semester we are excited to welcome a new PhD student, Olivia Mendoza, to the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance. Olivia is the recipient of the prestigious Deliberative Democracy PhD Scholarship offered to students aiming to specialise in one of the core research areas of the Centre. Read More Distinguished Professor John Dryzek has been elected to The British Academy Date: 23 July 2023 Congratulations to our own Distinguished Professor John Dryzek, who has been elected to the British Academy, an honour given to scholars who have attained distinction in the social sciences and humanities. John has considerable international standing as a scholar in the areas of political science, democratic theory and practice at all levels from the local to the global, political philosophy, environmental politics and climate governance. Read More Tackling far-right extremism: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Jordan McSwiney, gets among the experts Date: 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. Read More Digital Media and the Public Sphere Seminars this May Date: 1 May 2023 The world’s most eminent scholars on digital media and deliberative democracy, Professor Axel Bruns and Centenary Professor John Dryzek, will share their reflections on the crisis of communication in our times. Read More Call for Papers: Deliberative Democracy Summer School 2024 Date: 18 Apr 2023 CFP: Deliberative Democracy Summer School 2024 6TH DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY SUMMER SCHOOL 7-9 February 2024 Read More UC Postdoctoral Fellow wins 2022 Rising Star Award from leading European political science association Date: 6 Feb 2023 We are thrilled that our Centre's Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Dr Hans Asenbaum, has received the ECPR Rising Star Award for his achievements as an early career researcher. Read More Deliberative Democracy PhD Scholarship Date: 20 Jan 2023 The Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance is offering a PhD scholarship for a domestic student starting in July 2023. Read More Deliberative Democracy and Refugees: Ensuring they have a voice Date: 9 Dec 2022 Our PhD student Mohammad Abdul-Hwas shares his passion to study and research refugee crisis with UC's UnCover. Mohammad's parents’ and grandparents’ lived experiences of the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis, that has lasted the past 70 years, has created a deep empathy for refugees. Connecting with Syrian refugees in Jordan who have similar lived experience drove Mohammad to research deliberative democracy, with the ambition to improve the experience and agency for people caught in a refugee crisis. Read More Democracy Play Workshop with Mathias Poulsen Date: 21 Oct 2022 While democracy is usually conceived of a serious business, but Mathias Poulsen, showed us that democracy can be fun! On 21 October, the Centre hosted a workshop led by visiting scholar Mathias Poulsen (Design School Kolding in Denmark), where CDDGG staff explored engaging, creative and fun ways of doing democracy through an embodied experience of what a more playful democracy might look and feel like. Mathias draws on the Danish tradition of ”junk playgrounds” (similar to adventure playgrounds), which is framed as a kind of “agora”, a space for bodily, material inquiries into matters of mutual concern. Staff collaborated on an improvised miniature junk playground, where we investigated the nature and future of democracy, as we engaged with an eclectic collection of discarded materials to build arguments and tell stories. Read More Building Democratic Resilience - Report Launch Date: 13 Oct 2022 The report, Building Democratic Resilience, launched 13 October 2022, offers a framework for examining and improving the public sphere responses to violent extremism. It develops the concept of ‘democratic resilience’ drawing on the theory of deliberative democracy, and empirical research on countering violent extremism (CVE) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It explains how ‘democratic resilience’ differs from and supplements ‘community resilience’, which is the current resilience framework used by the NSW Government. The report offers key insights for academics, public servants, policy makers and the journalists working to develop strategies for tackling violent extremism. Read More 1 2 1 ... 1 2 ... 2

< 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

< Back MINI-PUBLICS AND THE LEGITIMACY DILEMMA: BALANCING THE TENSION BETWEEN DELIBERATION AND PARTICIPATION IN DELIBERATIVE THEORY ABSTRACT This paper explores the so-called legitimacy dilemmas as it arises in deliberative theory. The dilemma is that the higher the number of people participating in deliberation, the lower the quality of deliberation is likely to be, but the outcome might be more legitimate. The more restricted deliberation is, the higher its quality, but the outcome might lack legitimacy. Mini-publics have been proposed as one way out of this dilemma, however, there have been recent criticisms that mini-publics are not an adequate solution because they are not suitably representative of ordinary citizens; nor are they accountable to them. Drawing on analogous debates in the procedural justice literature on the difference between descriptive legitimacy and normative legitimacy, and the ways they converge, I offer an alternative way out of the legitimacy dilemma. I suggest that the perception by ordinary voters that mini-publics are legitimate is both a necessary and sufficient condition for normative legitimacy. BIO Sarah Sorial is a Professor of Law at the Macquarie Law School. Her research specialisation is primarily at the intersection of political philosophy and law. She is particularly interested in how philosophical concepts can be utilised to address various and persistent legal dilemmas, including dilemmas about the limits of speech, the importance of democratic deliberation, and the place of rights in liberal democracies. She has published widely on topics to do with free speech, deliberation, responsibility and punishment, in a range of journals including Law and Philosophy, Journal of Applied Philosophy, Criminal Law and Philosophy, Journal of Social Philosophy, Metaphilosophy, Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy, Journal of Medicine and Philosophy. Previous Next

< Back Refugee politics in the Middle East and the Governance of Syria's mass displacement Tamirace Fakhoury, Lebanese American University Tue 21 August 2018 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract Syria’s neighbourhood currently hosts almost 6 million forcibly displaced from Syria. In this context, supranational actors have provided assistance to both refugee and host communities so as to help Syria’s neighbours cope with the refugee quandary. This seminar will review the overarching policy legacies characterizing refugee governance in the Middle East. It will then explore how state actors namely Lebanon and Jordan and key supranational institutional bodies such as the European Union (EU) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) have collaborated but also clashed on the refugee issue, generating ‘governance dilemmas’. The conclusion will show the implications of these dilemmas for the global refugee regime and for the power dynamics in the transregional Mediterranean system. About the speaker Dr. Tamirace Fakhoury is an associate professor in Political Sciences and International Affairs in the Department of Social Sciences, and the associate director of the Institute of Social Justice and Conflict Resolution (ISJCR) . She has furthermore taught at the summer sessions at the University of California in Berkeley between 2012 and 2016. In Fall 2018, Fakhoury will be a visiting fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/ Centre for Global Cooperation Research where she will be carrying out a project on the European Union’s role in the multi-governance of displacement. Her core research and publication areas are: power sharing in divided societies, migration dynamics and governance, Arab states’ coping mechanisms with forced migration, and the role of immigrant communities and diasporas in political transitions. She is member of the core coordination team of the Global Migration Policy Associates in Geneva. Previous Next

< Back Systemic representation: The democratic legitimacy of self-appointed representatives Jonathan Kuyper, Stockholm University Tue 15 July 2014 11:00am – 12:00pm Fishbowl, Building 24, University of Canberra Abstract Deliberative democracy has taken a systemic turn. Underlying this research agenda is the core idea that democratic deliberation is, and should be, dispersed throughout an interconnected system. Because no single institution can perfectly uphold deliberative ideals, we should take a holistic view and seek to understand how a variety of sites operate in conjunction with one another. In this article I probe how different types of representatives fit within a deliberative system. The core argument is that representatives can act democratically in very different ways depending upon their role within a wider system. I employ this argument to evaluate the democratic legitimacy of 'self-appointed representatives’. Drawing upon Dryzek's notion of deliberative capacity, I argue that self-appointed representatives should be assessed by whether they have a role in the empowered space within a system or rather act as part of the transmission belt from the public space. About the speaker Jonathan Kuyper is a postdoctoral researcher at Stockholm University working on the Transaccess research project (headed by Professor Jonas Tallberg). He completed his PhD at the Australian National University in 2012, during which time he was a visiting student at the European University Institute and Princeton University. His work has been published or is forthcoming in Global Constitutionalism, Journal of Public Deliberation, European Journal of International Relations, Ethics and Global Politics and other outlets. Previous Next

Postdoctoral Research Fellow < Back Jensen Sass Postdoctoral Research Fellow About Jensen works at the intersection of normative political theory and the empirical study of corporations, technology, and the public sphere. He is also interested in corporate power and democratic politics, in particular the regulation of new technologies that promise to transform previously settled norms and institutions.

Faculty Affiliate < Back Jonathan Pickering Faculty Affiliate About Jonathan Pickering's research focuses on democracy and justice in global environmental governance, with an emphasis on climate change and biodiversity. He is an Assistant Professor in the School of Politics, Economics and Society at the University of Canberra, where he teaches International Relations.

Faculty Affiliate < Back Jean-Paul Gagnon Faculty Affiliate About Jean-Paul Gagnon is a democratic theorist specializing in democracy's linguistic artifacts and the theory of non-human democracy. He edits the Berghahn (Oxford/New York) journal Democratic Theory and the Palgrave Macmillan book series on The Theories, Concepts, and Practices of Democracy. He is director of the nascent Foundation For the Philosophy of Democracy.

< Back Meeting great expectations through democratic innovations? Studying the effect of citizen involvement on democratic legitimacy Sofie Marien, University of Amsterdam / University of Leuven Tue 14 March 2017 11:00am - 12:00pm The Dryzek Room, Building 22, University of Canberra Abstract As a result of rising expectations, democratic political systems are confronted with a citizenry that fiercely questions the democratic legitimacy of their political system. Widespread distrust in political actors and institutions and the increasing popularity of populist and anti-establishment candidates and parties are just a few of the indications of this societal challenge. Interestingly, this discontent is by no means paralleled by eroding support for democratic principles as this support is stronger than ever before. Therefore, this discontent has frequently been interpreted as a demand for democratic innovations. In particular, the involvement of citizens in political decision-making processes through deliberative processes is often proposed as a potential solution to meet citizens’ expectations and to address this democratic legitimacy deficit. In this talk I will focus on a recent study that investigates the potential of citizen involvement in political decision-making processes through a deliberative democratic instrument to foster losers’ consent with unfavourable political decisions. About the speaker Sofie Marien is an Assistant Professor at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Leuven. She has a B.S. in Political Science and a P.h.D. in Social Sciences from the University of Leuven (Belgium). She was a visiting scholar at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in the Spring of 2016 and 2017. She is president of the Belgian Political Science Association VPW. Her substantive research interests include political trust, political engagement, deliberative democracy and political communication with a regional focus on Europe. To investigate these topics, she draws on cross-national surveys, panel surveys and experimental methods. Her studies appeared in journals such as Political Research Quarterly and European Journal of Political Research. 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 )