Democracy

What is this about?

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What is deliberative democracy?

How is it different from other approaches to democracy?

Why do these differences matter?

Disclaimer

  • There is no universally agreed definition of deliberative democracy.
  • However, within the Democracy R&D network, there is (mostly) agreement on three core elements.
  • Each element is an answer to a big question about the design of any political system.
  • The “usual answers” in the next slides relate mainly to democratic political systems. However, the three elements could be relevant to any political system.

Three big questions about political decisions

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How are decision makers (or other participants in political conversations) selected?

How do they interact?

How do they decide?

How are decision makers selected?

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The usual options

The usual options

Elections; appointment; self-selection; stakeholder representation

Preferred option for DD advocates

Preferred option for DD advocates

Civic lottery (aka random selection, sortition)

Advantages of preferred option

Advantages of preferred option

Descriptive representation; avoid manipulation; diversity

Civic lottery (aka random selection, sortition)

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How do they interact?

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The usual options

The usual options

Debate; negotiation and bargaining; opinion giving; political theater; conflict resolution; dialogue

Preferred option for DD advocates

Preferred option for DD advocates

Deliberation (informed, open minded, synthesizing multiple perspectives)

Advantages of preferred option

Advantages of preferred option

Informed; incorporates diverse perspectives; not adversarial; produces better decisions

Deliberation

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How do they decide?

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The usual options

The usual options

Voting; consensus

Preferred option for DD advocates

Preferred option for DD advocates

Rough consensus (consensus is the ideal; in practice, aim for the closest feasible approximation)

Advantages of preferred option

Advantages of preferred option

Produces decisions that could be widely supported, within reasonable time constraints

Rough consensus

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All three questions, and answers

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Comparing four approaches to democracy

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Additional “elements” that complement the previous three

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Multiple bodies for tasks like lawmaking

Combining standing bodies with one-off bodies

Combining civic lottery (for some functions) with self-selection (for other functions)

Combining elected and randomly selected people in deliberation