Keith Sutherland, Department of Politics, University of Exeter; In recent years a number of writers have argued that sortition (the random selection of citizens for public office by lot) should augment the institutions of electoral democracy, but there is little agreement on the precise role that it should play. At one end of the spectrum...Continue reading
Lottery Voting: A Thought Experiment
January 1995 Edited by: Akhil Reed Amar, Yale Law School – Faculty Scholarship Series. Paper 987 This proposal outlines a system whereby votes become, in effect, tickets in a lottery to select representatives. While it potentially allows for odd results in single electorates, on a system-wide basis the law of averages suggests it would yield...
Can the market help the forum? Negotiating the commercialization of deliberative democracy
Hendriks, C & Carson L (2008) Policy Sciences, Vol. 41, No. 4, December, pp. 293-313 Deliberative ideals have become commercial goods bought and sold in an expanding consultancy market. In this market, demand is generated by government and advocacy groups seeking innovative ways to engage with the public. On the supply side are a growing...
Civic Engagement and the Promise of a New Citizenry
Jonathan Rose, Queen’s University. Occasional paper no. 2. State Services Authority of Victoria, Australia and New Zealand School of Government, February 2009. There is a common refrain among policy advocates, politicians and academics that the key to halting the ever-quickening decline of democratic participation is re-engaging citizens in democratic life. Governments typically respond by adding...Continue reading
The Promise and Limits of Citizens’ Assemblies: Deliberation, Institutions and the Law of Democracy
Michael Pal, University of Toronto – Faculty of Law; Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation November 16, 2012 (2012) 38(1) Queen’s Law Journal 259 Abstract: Recent experiments with deliberative democracy in British Columbia and Ontario have brought new life to the debate over electoral reform in Canada and have called into question the roles of the...
UTS Luminaries. Interview with Mr Luca Belgiorno-Nettis
“Do you realise there is no arts teaching at the UTS, and yet they sponsor an art gallery?” asks Luca Belgiorno-Nettis – architect, businessman, patron of the arts, philanthropist and passionate political idealist. “I think that’s brilliant,” he continues. “The university sees the worth of having art on the campus for its own sake.” Yes,...Continue reading
Citizen power: citizen juries advise on energy policy. (ABC Radio National, Life Matters)
When the NSW Government decided it wanted to hear what people really thought about energy policy they turned to the New Democracy Foundation, a privately funded research venture. They established two citizen juries to meet over a period of four Saturdays to consider issues like what might be the right energy mix, and how to...Continue reading
Panels Give NSW Panels a Say on Energy – Australian Financial Review
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Community Rich in Talent – Daily Telegraph
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