David Schecter – Associate R&D Director, The newDemocracy Foundation What is the question? Why use the jury model of random selection and deliberation? Why would public officials want to incorporate the jury model into public decision making? What are the benefits of the jury model, compared to the usual forms of public engagement?
Welcome to our latest update on the pursuit of a better democracy. It has been a busy winter for newDemocracy. Projects are concluding and foundations are being laid for large projects to come. We’ve seen a flurry of international events from Athens to San Francisco. We’ve featured in The Australian, been developing our platforms for interaction, and widening our channels of influence....Continue reading
‘How can we enhance our capacity to talk and think more deeply together about the critical issues facing our communities, our organisations, our nations, and our planet?’ The World Café: Shaping our Futures Through Conversations that Matter, Juanita Brown, 2005 What is the World Café? The World Café method is a discussion group aimed at...Continue reading
Lyn Carson – Research Director, The newDemocracy Foundation What is the question? How are the usual challenges associated with working with groups addressed in mini-publics? What are the usual answers? In the political landscape, groups are commonly chaired (in committees) or arbitrated by a Speaker (in parliaments). When citizens are brought together in a public space,...Continue reading
I entered politics with an engineer’s mindset — to assess the challenges, then build things to solve those problems. I went into it knowing politics can be bruising, and I was a willing participant in making sure I offered my arguments with the full measure of force and theatre to go along with the underlying...Continue reading
Lyn Carson – Research Director, The newDemocracy Foundation What is the question? When convening a mini-public, certain basic parameters must be met: the group should be diverse and inclusive (Landemore, 2012), and it should have time and sufficient information to deliberate well (March & Carson, 2013) (See, Deliberation), and its decisions should be influential. When discussing...
Meet four men who have prospered hugely under our current political system, yet want to dramatically overhaul it for the greater good. On the cover of Oz magazine’s February 1964 edition three young men – one dressed, incongruously, in a suit – stand at the Tom Bass public sculpture in Sydney’s Hunter Street, pissing into...Continue reading
Gil Delannoi – Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po University (Paris)Lyn Carson – Research Director, the newDemocracy Foundation Presidential campaign Something rather unusual happened in France during the campaign for president in 2017. Although the world watched with interest as Emmanuel Macron and Martine Le Pen competed in the second round of presidential elections, some fascinating...Continue reading
Professor Chris Riedy Dr Jenny Kent Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS You can read the full report here. Introduction A mini-public is a democratic innovation that brings together a small, representative group of citizens to deliberate and advise on a decision, or sometimes make a decision. Members of mini- publics are often randomly selected from...Continue reading
Geelong will have the council structure it wants with the passage of City of Greater Geelong Amendment Bill 2017. The Legislative Council passed the Bill last night, bringing about the new structure for the City of Greater Geelong following the Council’s dismissal in April 2016. In an Australian first, the Geelong Citizen’s Jury process put...Continue reading