
“Democracy Rising” is a series of blog posts on deliberative democracy: what it is, why it’s powerful, why the time is right for it, how it works, and how to get it going in your community. Written by deliberation scholars and practitioners, the series originates in the United States but discusses principles and draws upon examples from around the world.
(Views and opinions expressed in each post are those of the individual contributors only.)
Democracy Rising 28: AI, Gossip, and Our Epistemological Crisis
ChatGPT and its successors and rivals, whatever their virtues, are the latest agents in the corruption of the public sphere by digital technology, threatening to extend and deepen the misinformation, fabulism, and division stoked by Twitter and other digital media.
May 2, 2023
Democracy Rising 27: The Garden of Democracy
Think of it as a garden: you start with the soil, preparing it for seeding, and you work with the grassroots, cultivating a crop and nurturing it carefully over time. Democracy is more like an annual crop than a perennial one; it needs to be refreshed periodically. It won’t keep thriving if it’s left alone.
November 4, 2022
Democracy Rising 26: Middle Schoolers as Deliberative Civic Actors
In addition to fostering communication and thinking skills, deliberation can lead to changes in how young people engage as learners and citizens.
September 19, 2022
Democracy Rising 25: Young Children as Classroom Citizens
All of the participating teachers agreed that their understanding of citizenship changed from one that emphasized following rules and helping others to one that fostered student engagement in making decisions together about shared problems in the classroom community and beyond.
August 24, 2022
Democracy Rising 24: Scaling Deliberation—Austrian Citizens’ Councils
Citizens’ Councils can also be part of a broader range of processes used within a given region to support a larger “deliberative system.”
August 15, 2022
Democracy Rising 23: Scaling Deliberation—the Maclean’s Magazine Experiment
Despite their differences, the intense time pressure, and being continuously filmed by a crew from Canadian TV (for an hour-long public affairs program) these ordinary citizens by the end of their third day had all signed a detailed, co-created, visionary agreement charting a course to greater mutual understanding by all Canadians.
August 2, 2022