The butterfly of citizen deliberative democracy is emerging around the world…
Powerful elite think tanks and mainstream media are beginning to favorably notice citizen deliberative initiatives that continue to rapidly emerge and evolve …
Giving the gift of gifting
I spend a lot of time consulting and collaborating with groups working to shift social systems and cultures in major ways. I …
Can a small citizen deliberation have more impact than a giant one?
Among the many trends I see in my work on democratic innovation I highlight two here, one in Canada, one in the …
Democracy of Citizens, Democracy of Stakeholders
Some people think that democratic decisions should be made by everyone in the community or country – or their representatives. Others think …
Report from 2047: Life in a wise democracy
What would life in the public realm be like in a wise democracy? Let’s indulge our imaginations for a moment…. I asked …
Wise Democracy: A Poem and Two Interviews
In addition to a timely political poem, I want to share two interviews I had recently which overlap a lot but each …
Scaling up powerful conversations: Examples, methods, and approaches (Collective Coherence Part Four)
In the first two posts in this “Finding Our Way Together/Collective Coherence” series, I explored innovations in voting and in conversations that …
Journalistic Curiosity and Some New Powers of the Press
Three different journalistic initiatives all involved a whole country witnessing seriously diverse citizens truly hearing each other and connecting across political divides. Only one …
vTaiwan (Part 5) – Lessons for Government-Engaged Popular Deliberation
How could we generate vTaiwan-like citizen- and stakeholder-engaged government elsewhere? In this post I explore the nature of government engagement with participatory …
Is the Public Well-Informed Enough to be Trusted with Democracy?
OZY.com is an interesting news feed that includes occasional provocative questions for their audience under the name “Third Rail”. Recently they asked …