deliberation that matters: realizing the potential for civic intelligence
DESCRIPTION
Slides for keynote presentation at the Conference on Electronic Democracy and Open Government, May 5, 2011, University of the Danube, Krems, Austria.TRANSCRIPT
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