Deliberation that MattersRealizing the Potential for Civic Intelligence

CeDEM11Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government

Krems, Austria

May 5, 2011

Douglas Schulerdouglas@publicsphereproject.org

Confessions

• I embrace interdisciplinary approaches (although being everywhere generally can mean being nowhere specifically).

• I support work that is intended to yield social benefit -- especially based on the citizen as actor.

• I want to see the work here make a difference. (Or else why do it?)

• I don’t want to squander our intellectual, ethical, and material resources.

• I’m hoping to be controversial without being unthinkable.

Why Deliberation?

• We are in desperate need of good decisions and actions. Unfortunately they don’t necessarily result through hidden-hands, side-effects, or luck.

The real question is: Why not deliberation??

• Non-deliberative approaches can be exploitive, coercive, destructive.

• Deliberation can build civic capacity (hypothesis)

Looking at deliberation from two perspectives:

Although the two perspectives...

• raise different questions and

• suggest different courses of action,

they

• must work together if deliberation is to actually make a difference

in-the-small & in-the-large

Deliberation in-the-small

• is the process of deliberation itself

• assumes a million forms and takes place in a million places

• is a type of collaboration

• is purposeful

• is one of humankind’s most important innovations!

• can even be done by enemies!

Deliberation in-the-large

• is the context of deliberation. It’s what happens before and after deliberation

• looks at how deliberation plays out in society

• depends on legitimacy, societal “access points”, and other social factors

Without deliberation-in-the-large, deliberation-in-the-small is impotent...

All of these factors must be present

for successful deliberation.

Civic Intelligence• Is a type of collective intelligence that addresses shared

concerns effectively and equitably

• Is civic ends through civic means

• Is an under-acknowledged and under-appreciated resource

• It always exists yet varies over time and from place to place

Assertion:

It’s what many of us are -- or should be -- working on!

Civic Intelligence Emergencies(The demand may exceed the supply)

• Even a short list of our problems can be depressing.

• The elites won’t solve these problems by themselves.

• Yes we can! We are very capable of creating messes that we can’t clean up!

• As demands rise worldwide and our resources (water, oil, etc.) are becoming scarce and despoiled we may be creating a “perfect storm” for ourselves.

• If we don’t change directions we’ll get where we’re heading!

• but emergencies = opportunities

Towards Deliberation in-the-large How could it realistically make a difference?

• Our efforts will need to be bigger than they are.

• Could deliberation spawn more deliberation? Could it go viral?

• We need to build the base of useful (i.e. accessible) knowledge

• Open up social science; Relax some constraints

• Social entrepreneurism

• e-Liberate, for example

• Deliberation on !5 a Day!?

Challenges

• Professional and well-resourced cultivators of civic ignorance (far beyond the “Loyal Opposition”)

• Institutionalization of non-deliberative approaches

• Inertia & temporal differentiation

• Need for funding

• Lack of interest in actual deliberation. Deliberation isn‘t cool!

Conclusions & Recommendations

• Make deliberation (and civic intelligence) high priority (and explicit)

• Break out of the routines; tweak the process! write manifestos!

• Work together in semi-autonomous and semi-coordinated ways

• Work with lots of groups -- especially across boundaries

• Theorize, experiment, and act