Democracy in Motion

 

Democracy in Motion
Evaluating the Practice and Impact of Deliberative Civic Engagement

Edited by Tina Nabatchi, John Gastil, Matt Leighninger, and G. Michael Weiksner

  Oxford University Press 2012 336 p. 27,95 $   Although the field of deliberative civic engagement is growing rapidly around the world, our knowledge and understanding of its practice and impacts remain highly fragmented. Democracy in Motion represents the first comprehensive attempt to assess the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement. Organized in a series of chapters that address the big questions of deliberative civic engagement, it uses theory, research, and practice from around the world to explore what we know about, how we know it, and what remains to be understood. More than a simple summary of research, the book is designed to be accessible and useful to a wide variety of audiences, from scholars and practitioners working in numerous disciplines and fields, to public officials, activists, and average citizens who are seeking to utilize deliberative civic engagement in their communities. The book significantly enhances current scholarship, serving as a guide to existing research and identifying useful future research. It also has promise for enhancing practice, for example by helping practitioners, public officials, and others better think through and articulate issues of design and outcomes, thus enabling them to garner more support for public deliberation activities. In addition, by identifying what remains to be learned about public deliberation, practitioners and public officials may be inspired to connect with scholars to conduct research and evaluations of their efforts.  

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
About the Editors
About the Authors
Editorial Assistants

Part I: Overview

1. Introduction to Deliberative Civic Engagement
Tina Nabatchi
2. Mapping Deliberative Civic Engagement: Pictures From a (R)evolution
Matt Leighninger

Part II: Process and Design

3. Who Deliberates? Recruitment and Participation in Deliberative Civic Engagement
David Ryfe and Brittany Stalsburg
4. How People Communicate During Deliberative Events
Laura Black
5. Deliberative Inclusion in Multicultural Societies
Alice Siu and Dragan M. Stanisevski
6. Online Deliberation Design: Choices, Criteria, and Evidence
Todd Davies and Reid Chandler

Part III: Outcomes and Evaluation

7. Does Deliberation Make Better Citizens?
Heather Pincock
8. Deliberation's Contribution to Community Capacity-Building
Bo I. Kinney
9. Assessing the Policy Impacts of Deliberative Civic Engagement
Gregory Barrett, Miriam Wyman, and Vera Schattan P. Coehlo
10. Evaluating Deliberative Public Events and Projects
John Gastil, Katie Knobloch, and Meghan B. Kelly

Part IV: Conclusion

11. Listening and Responding to Critics of Deliberative Civic Engagement
Loren Collingwood and Justin Reedy
12. Advancing the Theory and Practice of Deliberative Civic Engagement: A Secular Hymnal
Michael Weiksner, John Gastil, Tina Nabatchi, and Matt Leighninger

References