1.16 Deliberative Polling with Professor Fishkin
Release Date: 01/15/2017
The Paris Citizens' Assembly
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I talk with Anouch Toranian, the Deputy Mayor of Paris, Yves Dejaeghere, the Executive Director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy, Europe and Claudia Chwalisz, leader of innovation in citizen engagement with the OECD about the design and establishment of the Paris Citizens' Assembly.
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3.8 New Zealand's Electoral System with Therese Arseneau
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
I'm speaking with Therese Arseneau about the introduction of a mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system. Therese talks about the background to the referendum which led to the introduction of MMP in New Zealand [1:20], how voters view the impact of MMP [13:20], the reality of MMP and coalition governments [21:20], the impact of MMP on women's representation [28:10], its wider impact [34:00] and Maori representation generally and the impact of MMP [39:30].
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3.7 Electoral systems in Australia with Antony Green
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m talking with Antony Green about the Australian electoral system and Vote Compass, a tool which allows voters to explore how their views align with the major parties.
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3.6 Reforming democracy, democratic legitimacy and majority bonuses with Dr Camille Bedock
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m talking with Dr Camille Bedock about her book Reforming Democracy: Institutional engineering in Western Europe, 1990 - 2010 and also about her more recent research with Sophie Panel on citizen conceptions of how democratic their democracy is and with Nicolas Sauger on how electoral systems with majority bonuses affect electoral competition.
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3.5 Electoral Integrity with Pippa Norris
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I am speaking with Professor Pippa Norris about her work on electoral integrity.
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Bonus Ep10 Deliberation Culture Context - John Dryzek
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Dryzek about his ARC Laureate Fellowship, his reflections on the Conference generally, how we might establish global deliberative processes and directions for future research in this area.
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Bonus Ep9 Deliberation Culture Context - Quinlan Bowman
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Dr Quinlan Bowman about his reflections on the Conference Deliberation, Culture and Context.
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Bonus Ep8 Deliberation Culture Context - John Parkinson
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this episode, I’m speaking with Professor John Parkinson, who is currently a Professor of Social and Political Philosophy in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University, The Netherlands.
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Bonus Ep7 Deliberation Culture Context - Ian O'Flynn
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In this bonus episode I’m speaking with Dr Ian O'Flynn about his work on deliberation in divided societies.
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Bonus Ep6 Deliberation Culture Context - Stephanie Lawson
Real Democracy Now! a podcast
In bonus episode 6 I’m speaking with Professor Stephanie Lawson, Professor of Politics and International Relations at the Macquarie University about her paper ‘Consensus Politics and Democracy in the Pacific Islands: A Critique’ which she presented at the Deliberation, Culture and Context conference.
info_outlineProfessor Fishkin developed the idea of deliberative polling in 1998 since then deliberative polls have been held in over 24 countries and once in 22 languages simultaneously. Professor Fishkin holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University where he is Professor of Communication, Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy.
Deliberative polls have been designed to provide the conditions under which people can think about an issue and decision-makers can see how those people's views change as a result of this process. The conditions Professor Fishkin identifies as optimal include:
- carefully vetted and balanced briefing materials
- randomly allocating participants to independently moderated small groups
- groups work together to identify the questions they want to be answered
- experts from different sides of an issue provide answers to those questions
- repeat the previous three steps multiple times.
A confidential survey is administered before and after the face-to-face meeting with the same questions in both plus some evaluation questions in the post-process survey. Generally, participants' policy positions will change significantly as a result of being exposed to information and having their questions answered. Professor Fishkin and others' research suggests that people become more 'public spirited,' making decisions based on the needs of the community rather than themselves. Fishkin sees deliberative polling as providing what Mills called 'schools of public spirit.'
Professor Fishkin provides many examples of deliberative polls and their outcomes. One involved eight deliberative polls across Texas on energy futures which lead to Texas moving from the last place in 1996 to first place in 2007 in the US for the use of wind power.
In next week's episode, I will be talking to four everyday people who were randomly selected to participate in deliberative mini-publics in the UK, Canada, and Australia. I hope you'll join me then.