News and Events Archive

• Proposition generated by the California state-wide Deliberative Poll is endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News
• Results of National Deliberative Poll in Japan on Energy Choices
• Most People are Rationally Ignorant, The European
  What decisions would we make if we deliberated carefully about public policy?
• What the People Want–When They Think About It
  James Fishkin's SFGate City Brights post on the "Government Performance and Accountability Act", an initiative that combines the top six proposals from the What's Next California? Deliberative Poll^®.
• Viewpoints: Californians want to change initiative process, The Sacramento Bee
• When Citizens Deliberate, A New Science of Virtues
• Deliberative Polling should be used in key policy issues like energy
  Asahi Shimbun interview with James Fishkin
• A California experiment in democracy, San Francisco Chronicle
• What’s Next California? Final Report
  View complete results from California's first statewide Deliberative Poll^®.
• A people's tool for democratic reform, SFGate - The Opinion Shop
  Deliberative Polling^® in California could result in a set of people’s initiatives that would go before voters for approval or rejection.
• The Deliberative Initiative: Returning Direct Democracy to the People
  James Fishkin's SFGate City Brights post on charting a new path to a successful California initiative process.
• What’s Next California? Final Report
  View complete results from California's first statewide Deliberative Poll^®.
• SPUR Evening Forum: What’s Next California? The Power of Deliberative Polling

2011

• PBS Newshour broadcast features the What's Next California? Deliberative Poll^®
• How to Fix California’s Democracy Crisis
  James Fishkin's Op-Ed article in the New York Times discusses reforms supported by participants in the Whats Next California? Deliberative Poll^®
• Process based on Deliberative Polling^® a winner of the McKinsey/Harvard Business Review M-Prize in the Management 2.0 Challenge
  • Social technologies on the front line: The Management 2.0 M-Prize winners, McKinsey Quarterly
  • Are Radical Innovations a thing of the past?, Financial Times
• Deliberative Polling^® in Macao
  A Deliberative Poll will be held in Macao on the subject of the Press Law and the Visual-audio Broadcasting Act.
• By the People: What's Next California?
  PBS Newshour documentary on the What's Next California Deliberative Poll^®.
• What's Next California? Overview and Results
  California's first ever statewide Deliberative Poll^® on governance reform focused on four issue areas: The statewide initiative process, legislative representation, local government, and tax and fiscal policy. What do California voters think should be done to fix the state when they focus on the substance of the issues? “What’s Next California?” offers some clear answers.
• Deliberative Democracy and the Virtues of Democratic Citizenship
  View James Fishkin's presentation at the University of Chicago's "New Science of Virtues" meeting.
• California Voters Ask: What Happened to Our State?, PBS Newshour
  Judy Woodruff reports on the California Deliberative Poll^®. After listening to Californians talk about how to make their state government work better, her overriding impression was that they want their leaders to work together, to compromise when necessary, and to solve problems.
• What's Next California?
  Using principles of Athenian democracy, and tools of leading-edge technology, more than 400 randomly selected Californians spent the weekend of June 24-26 in Torrance (Los Angeles County) engaged in the first-ever California statewide Deliberative Poll^®.

2010

• Our Times: Craig Barnes interviews James Fishkin
  Instead of reasoned exchanges, our population has segregated itself into like minded and self-confirming cliques. Deliberative Polling^® creates an environment where people are exposed to alternative points of view and can be informed on the subject matter.
• How Can a Democracy Solve Tough Problems?
  Should Obama use Deliberative Polling^® rather than a blue-ribbon commission to make hard choices? TIME.com article by Joe Klein.
• Perspectives on Politics: When the People Speak review
• How Best to use the Stadium after the UEFA Cup?
  Results from the Deliberative Poll in Poznan
• The Good Society Symposium: When the People Speak
  Lynn M. Sanders, Albena Azmanova, Jane Mansbridge and Sanford Levinson discuss When the People Speak with response by James Fishkin
• Government as if Listening Mattered
  Personal Democracy Forum with James Fishkin, Jane Mansbridge, Howard Rheingold and David Weinberger
• Ancient Athens online: Democracy is about discussion, not just voting
  The Economist article discusses the Deliberative Polling^® process and results of recent CDD polls
• Why the Lib Dems do well out of TV debates
• CDD Wins Award in University of Chicago Competition for a New Science of Virtues
• Deliberative Democracy in an Unlikely Place: Deliberative Polling^® in China
• UK Deliberative Poll – Power 2010: Countdown to a New Politics
• Hard times, Hard choices: Michigan Citizens Deliberate
  Residents discussed issues such as poverty, education, unemployment, housing and the economy.

2009

• First Deliberative Poll in Argentina
• Deliberative Democracy and the Internet
  James Fishkin made the "keynote" presentation about When the People Speak on C-span.
• First Deliberative Poll in Poland
• Read and comment on chapter 1 of When the People Speak – Democratic Aspirations
• Hard times, Hard choices: Michigan Citizens Deliberate
• First Japanese Deliberative Poll announced for December 5
  Kanagawa Deliberative Poll on federalism reform
• OUP Blog--When the People Speak and Michigan Deliberative Poll
• When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation now available
  In this book, James Fishkin combines a new theory of democracy with actual practice and shows how an idea that harks back to ancient Athens can be used to revive our modern democracies. See an excerpt from "Europe in One Room", the DVD that accompanies the book.
• Visit James Fishkin's City Brights Blog on SFGate.com

  The People Can Make Hard Budget Choices

  WMD Found — Weapons of Mass Distraction

  Consulting the People — Thoughtfully

• 'Athens' on the Net
  When the People Speak discussed in Sunday New York Times Week in Review
• Beyond Westminster
  BBC Radio Four examines Deliberative Polling and other forms of public consultation.
• Town Halls by Invitation
  In a New York Times opinion piece, James Fishkin suggests Deliberative Polling^® as a method for members of Congress and their constituents to discuss health care.
• Porto Alegre: First Deliberative Poll in Latin America
  State Wide Public Consultation in Rio Grande do Sul About Career Reform of Civil Service.
  Results:
  • The Public's Considered Judgments about Career Reform in RS (Short Summary of Results)
  • Results: Executive Summary
  • Results: Sumário Executivo
  • Apresentação dos Resultados
  • Relató de Análise dos dados Estatísticos
• Europolis European Wide Deliberative Poll
  What kind of Parliament would Europeans elect if they knew, thought, and talked much more about the issues? An experiment just conducted in Brussels gives a picture of how the votes for Parliament might be different.
  • Europolis Results: Executive Summary
  • Attitude Changes
  • Knowledge Gain
  • Vote Shares: Before and After Deliberation
• Considered Public Opinion in Policy Reform, Cecilia Verzosa of The World Bank Group discusses Deliberative Polling^® with James Fishkin

2008

• Campaign '08: How was it for you Jim Fishkin?
  James Fishkin is interviewed on Open Source with Christopher Lydon. How does the presidential campaign of 2008 rate on three principal measuring sticks — participation, equality and deliberation?
• Hungarian Deliberative Poll reveals informed opinion about unemployment
• San Mateo Countywide Assembly on Housing Choices
  Threshold 2008 is an unprecedented campaign to build the public voice about housing issues and options in San Mateo County.
  • Executive Summary: Informed Citizens Want More Housing
  • Results of the San Mateo Countywide Assembly on Housing Choices
    Informed citizens identify need for more housing, majority support higher density, more regional solutions
• Deliberative Poll on Housing in San Mateo County
• Results of a National Online Dialogue: Rethinking the Role of Citizens in our Democracy
  National online deliberative poll explored citizenship in 21st century America
  • Excerpt of national broadcast hosted by Jim Lehrer
  • Video presentation of results by Professor James S. Fishkin at Williamsburg
  • By the People: Dialogues in Democracy

2007

• Results of a National Online Dialogue: Rethinking the Role of Citizens in our Democracy
  National online deliberative poll explored citizenship in 21st century America – By the People: Dialogues in Democracy
• Results: Tomorrow's Europe
  Details of opinion changes and knowledge gains in the first EU-wide Deliberative Poll.
• BBC Newsnight,
  What do the citizens of Europe think about the European project? Newsnight witnessed a unique seminar of citizens from all the member states coming together in Brussels to see what they make of it all.
• Polling that puts Europe in one room
  The first EU-wide deliberative poll will be held this weekend in Brussels. 400 people from 27 countries will deliberate about key questions related to the future of Europe.
• By the People: Dialogues in Democracy
  Local deliberations will be accompanied by a national Online Deliberative Poll exploring 21st century citizenship in America
• Tomorrow's Europe, the first EU-wide Deliberative Poll
  What would ordinary Europeans think, if they all came together in the same room?
• Bulgaria Invites Guests for a Day of Intense Democracy
  New York Times article reviews national Deliberative Poll in Bulgaria on policies toward the Roma.
• Deliberative Poll Supports Integration of the Roma in Bulgarian Society: Prime Minister Lauds Process
• A Deliberative Poll on Education: What provision do informed parents in Northern Ireland want?
• National Deliberative Poll: Policies toward the Roma in Bulgaria &ndash Ghettos, Crime, Education
• Australia Deliberates: Muslims and Non Muslims in Australia
  • Facts and figures punch holes in the fear of veils
  • Blueprint for coexistence
• California Cultures: Power to the People
  San Francisco Chronicle article discusses techniques used to engage Californians more directly in the democratic process.
• Results of Northern Ireland Deliberation on Shared Education and Community Perceptions
  For the first time ever, a scientific random sample of parents in Northern Ireland deliberated about a serious public policy issue-their children's educational future.
• Deliberative Poll In Rome Clarifies Budget Priorities for Region
• Announcement: Deliberative Democracy Experiment in Northern Ireland: Education Policy In Omagh

2006

• Greek Deliberation
  A modern version of Ancient Athenian democracy was employed to select a candidate for mayor in Marousi, one of the principal municipalities of Athens, Greece.
• The Nation in a Room: Turning Public Opinion into Policy
  How Deliberative Polling® addresses limitations of traditional public opinion polling.
• It's Their Call Chinese Communist Party officials are giving citizens a voice in decision making.

2005

• Results of National Deliberative Poll^® on Health Care and Education A nationally representative sample discussed the issues online using voice chat software designed to facilitate group discussion.
• Citizens Speak Out on Health Care, Education
  More than 1,000 citizens outlined their priorities at discussions in fifteen cities around the country during Deliberation Week.
• Magyar Agora
  For the first time in Hungary TV, radio, internet and press will provide a public space for direct community participation, and for the shaping of citizens' views.
• Putting all of Europe in one room
  Europeans from all 25 member states could be brought together to discuss issues that they would usually only talk about with citizens of their own countries.
• Dabbling in Democracy: No one knew what to expect when a Chinese town tried listening to its people
  Deliberative Poll facilitates a participatory approach to Chinese politics.

• Online Deliberation 2005
  The Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice, will bring together software developers, social science researchers, and practioners of online deliberation for three days of presentations and workshops on the Stanford University campus in May of 2005.

2004

• Online "Deliberative Poll" Gives Picture of Informed Public Opinion in Election
  In a unique national experiment, a scientific sample of voters nationwide participated in weekly small group discussions to become more informed about the issues in the Presidential election.
• PBS Deliberation Day
  On October 16, just weeks before the national election, nearly 2000 Americans in communities around the country from Seattle to Pittsburgh and Cleveland to Houston, will join together in a common deliberation about what's at stake for the nation as they approach the polls.
• Vote 2004: Presidential Candidates in Their Own Words has been developed jointly by the Center for Deliberative Democracy and the Political Communication Laboratory at Stanford University, and by By the People. This Macromedia Flash presentation covers the policy positions and campaign ads of George W. Bush and John Kerry
• Deliberation Day
  Bruce Ackerman and James Fishkin argue that Americans can revitalize their democracy and break the cycle of cynical media manipulation that is crippling public life.
• "Deliberative Poll" Shows Americans' Views on Iraq, Trade
  Participants expressed their views in a unique experiment in civic dialogue that took place in 10 American communities.