What is this about?
Disclaimer
Three big questions about political decisions
How are decision makers selected?
Civic lottery (aka random selection, sortition)
Selecting a representative sample of the public, using lottery selection and “stratification” by relevant characteristics (for example, age, gender, income, ethnicity)
It produces a diverse group; it produces a representative group (a microcosm of the public; and the selection process is resistant to manipulation.
Most deliberative democrats don’t think that deliberation is the best form of interaction for all purposes. But we do think that we can’t solve the big problems of democracy without it.
How do they interact?
Deliberation
A type of conversation that is informed, open-minded, non-adversarial, and focused on making a decision that could (ideally) work well for everyone.
Participants are well informed; incorporates diverse perspectives; not adversarial; produces better decisions.
Most deliberative democrats don’t think that deliberation is the best form of interaction for all purposes. But we do think that we can’t solve the big problems of democracy without it.
How do they decide?
Rough consensus
A form of decision making where the goal is to get as close as possible, given time and resource constraints, to a decision that everyone could support.
Produces decisions that could be widely supported, within reasonable time constraints. Often these decisions are better than any options that participants would have advocated before the deliberation.
Most deliberative democrats don’t think that rough consensus is the best decision making process for all purposes. But we do think that we can’t solve the big problems of democracy without it.
All three questions, and answers
Comparing four approaches to democracy
Additional “elements” that complement the previous three