The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy

Cover for the book The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy

The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy

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

The Pennsylvania State University Press
Series Name: Rhetoric and Democratic Deliberation
2013 336 pages 64,95 $

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.

Contents

Lyn Carson, John Gastil, Janette Hartz-Karp, and Ron Lubensky, Introduction

Part I: Deliberative Design and Innovation

1. Lyn Carson and Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, "Origins of the First Citizens’ Parliament"

2. Janette Hartz-Karp and Lyn Carson, "Putting Citizens in Charge: Comparing the Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Australia 2020 Summit"

3. Ron Lubensky and Lyn Carson, "Choose Me: The Challenges of National Random Selection"

4. Brian Sullivan and Janette Hartz-Karp, "Grafting an Online Parliament onto a Face-to-Face Process"

Part II: Exploring Deliberation

5. Ron Lubensky, "Listening Carefully to the Citizens’ Parliament: A Narrative Account"

6. Laura W. Black and Ron Lubensky, "Deliberative Design and Storytelling in the Australian Citizens’ Parliament"

7. John Gastil, "What Counts as Deliberation? Comparing Participant and Observer Ratings"

8. Anna Wiederhold and John Gastil, "Hearing All Sides? Soliciting and Managing Different Viewpoints in Deliberation"

9. Joseph A. Bonito, Renee A. Meyers, John Gastil, and Jennifer Ervin, "Sit Down and Speak Up: Stability and Change in Group Participation"

Part III: The Flow of Beliefs and Ideas

10. Simon Niemeyer, Luisa Batalha, and John S. Dryzek, "Changing Orientations Toward Australian Democracy

11. John Gastil and John Wilkerson, "Staying Focused: Tracing the Flow of Ideas from the Online Parliament to Canberra"

12. Luc Tucker and John Gastil, "Evidence of Peer Influence in the Citizens’ Parliament"

Part IV: Facilitation and Organizer Effects

13. Max Hardy and Kath Fisher, with Janette Hartz-Karp, "The Unsung Heroes of a Deliberative Process: Reflections on the Role of Facilitators at the Citizens’ Parliament"

14. Li Li, Fletcher Ziwoya, Laura W. Black, and Janette Hartz-Karp, "Are They Doing What They Are Supposed to Do? Assessing the Facilitating Process of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament"

15. Ian Marsh and Lyn Carson, "Supporting the Citizen Parliamentarians: Mobilizing Perspectives and Informing Discussion"

16. Lyn Carson, "Investigation of (and Introspection on) Organizer Bias"

Part V: Impacts and Reflections

17. Katie Knobloch and John Gastil, "Participant Accounts of Political Transformation"

18. Janette Hartz-Karp, Patrick Anderson, John Gastil, and Andrea Felicetti, "Becoming Australian: Forging a National Identity"

19. Eike Mark Rinke, Katie Knobloch, John Gastil, and Lyn Carson, "Mediated Meta-deliberation: Making Sense of the Australian Citizens’ Parliament"

20. Lyn Carson, "How Not to Introduce Deliberative Democracy: The 2010 Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Change Proposal"

Janette Hartz-Karp, Lyn Carson, John Gastil, and Ron Lubensky, "Conclusion: Theoretical and Practical Implications of the Citizens’ Parliament Experience"