The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy

Published by Penn State University Press 2013

The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy

Edited by: Lyn Carson , John Gastil , Janette Hartz-Karp and Ron Lubensky

Volume 8 in the series Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780271062464

Overview
Contents

About this book

Growing numbers of scholars, practitioners, politicians, and citizens recognize the value of deliberative civic engagement processes that enable citizens and governments to come together in public spaces and engage in constructive dialogue, informed discussion, and decisive deliberation. This book seeks to fill a gap in empirical studies in deliberative democracy by studying the assembly of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament (ACP), which took place in Canberra on February 6–8, 2009. The ACP addressed the question “How can the Australian political system be strengthened to serve us better?”

The ACP’s Canberra assembly is the first large-scale, face-to-face deliberative project to be completely audio-recorded and transcribed, enabling an unprecedented level of qualitative and quantitative assessment of participants’ actual spoken discourse. Each chapter reports on different research questions for different purposes to benefit different audiences. Combined, they exhibit how diverse modes of research focused on a single event can enhance both theoretical and practical knowledge about deliberative democracy.

Author / Editor information

Carson Lyn :

Lyn Carson is Professor in the Business Programs Unit at the University of Sydney Business School and a co-initiator of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament.Gastil John :

John Gastil is Professor and Head of Communication Arts and Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University.Hartz-Karp Janette :

Janette Hartz-Karp is Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute.Lubensky Ron :

Ron Lubensky is a doctoral candidate at the School of Humanities and Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney.

Reviews

“As innovators in democratic process, we know how much we depend on learning from practical trials and real-world experiences. This work captures the experience in detail and provides an important reference point for anyone hoping to bring deliberation and the citizen’s voice back into how we do government.”
—Iain Walker, executive director, The newDemocracy Foundation

“This study shows that deliberative capacity, personal efficacy, and common political ground can be developed through the careful design of deliberative institutions among ordinary citizens; even so, meaningful political influence over a broader social scale remains as elusive as ever. The editors present valuable and hard-won lessons for citizens, leaders, and academics who hope to realize the practical political and moral benefits of a more truly deliberative and democratic public life. The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy is full of practical wisdom for anyone who sets out to create a democratic deliberative space for ordinary citizens.”
—Mark E. Button, University of Utah

“From conception to conclusion, this book narrates and analyzes an ambitious experiment in deliberative democracy: the Australian Citizens’ Parliament. Integrating social science analyses of many kinds of data with reflections by philosophers and civic reform–minded public participation practitioners, the volume offers a rich sense of what occurred in the different phases of the ACP process and provides a nuanced assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of this large-scale deliberative democracy experiment. This wonderful case study is a must-read for everyone interested in deliberative democracy.”
—Karen Tracy, University of Colorado, and author of Challenges of Ordinary Democracy

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
List of Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
List of Tables Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xiii
Introduction Lyn Carson, John Gastil, Janette Hartz-Karp and Ron Lubensky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Part I: Deliberative Design and Innovation
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	11
1 Origins of the First Citizens’ Parliament Lyn Carson and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	13
2 Putting Citizens in Charge: Comparing the Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Australia 2020 Summit Janette Hartz-Karp and Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
3 Choose Me: The Challenges of National Random Selection Ron Lubensky and Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	35
4 Grafting an Online Parliament onto a Face-to-Face Process Brian Sullivan and Janette Hartz-Karp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	49
Part II: Exploring Deliberation
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	63
5 Listening Carefully to the Citizens’ Parliament: A Narrative Account Ron Lubensky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
6 Deliberative Design and Storytelling in the Australian Citizens’ Parliament Laura W. Black and Ron Lubensky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	81
7 What Counts as Deliberation? Comparing Participant and Observer Ratings John Gastil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
8 Hearing All Sides? Soliciting and Managing Different Viewpoints in Deliberation Anna Wiederhold and John Gastil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	108
9 Sit Down and Speak Up: Stability and Change in Group Participation Joseph A. Bonito, Renee A. Meyers, John Gastil and Jennifer Ervin Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	120
Part III: The Flow of Beliefs and Ideas
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
10 Changing Orientations Toward Australian Democracy Simon Niemeyer, Luisa Batalha and John S. Dryzek Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	133
11 Staying Focused: Tracing the Flow of Ideas from the Online Parliament to Canberra John Gastil and John Wilkerson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	146
12 Evidence of Peer Influence in the Citizens’ Parliament Luc Tucker and John Gastil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	161
Part IV: Facilitation and Organizer Effects
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
13 The Unsung Heroes of a Deliberative Process: Reflections on the Role of Facilitators at the Citizens’ Parliament Max Hardy, Kath Fisher and Janette Hartz-Karp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
14 Are They Doing What They Are Supposed to Do? Assessing the Facilitating Process of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament Li Li, Fletcher Ziwoya, Laura W. Black and Janette Hartz-Karp Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	190
15 Supporting the Citizen Parliamentarians: Mobilizing Perspectives and Informing Discussion Ian Marsh and Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	204
16 Investigation of (and Introspection on) Organizer Bias 218 Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	218
Part V: Impacts and Reflections
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
17 Participant Accounts of Political Transformation Katherine R. Knobloch and John Gastil Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
18 Becoming Australian: Forging a National Identity Through Deliberation Janette Hartz-Karp, Patrick Anderson, John Gastil and Andrea Felicetti Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	248
19 Mediated Meta-deliberation: Making Sense of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament Eike Mark Rinke, Katherine R. Knobloch, John Gastil and Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	260
20 How Not to Introduce Deliberative Democracy: The 2010 Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change Proposal Lyn Carson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	274
Conclusion: Theoretical and Practical Implications of the Citizens’ Parliament Experience Janette Hartz-Karp, Lyn Carson, John Gastil and Ron Lubensky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289
List of Contributors Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	307