Real Democracy Now! a podcast - 1.4 Explaining the popularity of deliberative mini-publics

1.4 Explaining the popularity of deliberative mini-publics

10/23/16 • 19 min

Deliberative mini-publics are a popular form of democratic innovation around the world. In today's episode I talk to a range of people to get their perspectives on what is behind this popularity.

Professor Graham Smith is a Professor of Politics in the Centre for the Study of Democracy, in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in London.

Professor Janette Hartz-Karp, from the Sustainability Policy Unit at Curtin University in Western Australia. Janette is renowned nationally and internationally for her innovative work in community engagement and deliberative democracy.

Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, the founder of the newDemocracy Foundation in Australia. The newDemocracy Foundation is an independent, non-partisan research organisation aiming to identify improvements to our democratic process with a focus on promoting deliberative mini-publics as a key democratic reform.

Peter McLeod, the Principal and Founder of MASS LBP a consultancy focused on democratic innovation and public strategy. Since 2007, MASS has led some of the country's most original and ambitious efforts to engage citizens in tackling tough policy choices while pioneering the use of Civic Lotteries and Reference Panels on behalf of forward-thinking governments.

Emily Jenke is the co-founder of Democracy Co a consultancy that works with governments, business, not-for profits and local communities to help them make better decisions together that improve the quality of people's lives.

Deliberative mini-publics are a popular form of democratic innovation around the world. In today's episode I talk to a range of people to get their perspectives on what is behind this popularity.

Professor Graham Smith is a Professor of Politics in the Centre for the Study of Democracy, in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in London.

Previous Episode

1.3 A politician's perspective with Premier Jay Weatherill

Jay Weatherill is South Australia’s 45th Premier and has held that position since 2014. Under his leadership South Australia has become a leading light in democratic reform in Australia and around the world. In particular, South Australia has been at the forefront in the use of deliberative mini-publics, or citizens’ juries as they are often called here in Australia. In South Australia the Government has conducted a number of citizens’ juries to address a range of issues including

how to ensure their capital, Adelaide, has a safe and vibrant nightlife
how cars and bicycles can share the road safely
how to manage unwanted litters of dogs and cats
how to fund major infrastructure and most recently
how the State should respond to a Royal Commission’s findings about the nuclear fuel cycle.

Next Episode

1.5 Designing & delivering deliberative mini-publics in Western Australia

Professor Janette Hartz-Karp is a Professor in the Sustainability Policy Unit at Curtin University in Western Australia. As well as undertaking research in the area of democratic innovations Janette has lead numerous large innovative deliberative processes as community engagement consultant to the then Western Australian Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Allanah McTernan, and more recently with the City of Geraldton. Janette explains how she approaches the design of deliberative mini-publics focusing on three key elements: influence, deliberation, and representativeness. Then she describes a number of processes she has designed and delivered including

Dialogue in the City, a large process involving 1,100 people both randomly selected citizens and stakeholders, looking at future planning for Perth
a Citizens' Jury involving residents from two communities agreeing on the location of freeway exit after eight years of argument and disagreement
an Enquiry by Design process to develop a Statutory Plan for Geraldton involving 300 people working with a multi-disciplinary design team responding to the participants' input
two participatory budgeting processes using citizens' juries to make recommendations on 100% of 10 year Capital Works budget and 100% of the Operational budget of Geraldton Council.