Deliberation that MattersRealizing the Potential for Civic Intelligence
CeDEM11Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government
Krems, Austria
May 5, 2011
Douglas [email protected]
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
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