AsiaPacific

1
E- Democracy and the Structural Transformationof
the Public Sphere

• Asia-Pacific
• Computing and Philosophy Conference
• Bangkok, Thailand
• January, 2005
• Robert Cavalier
• Carnegie Mellon

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Two Models of DemocracyThe Market and the Forum
A thin, liberal Democracy
A strong, liberal Democracy
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Citizenship Theory and Deliberative Polling
Rational
Reasonable
Citizen
Sense of Fairness (Reciprocity)
Moral Powers
Capacity for a Conception of the Good
The Fact of Pluralism
Individual Voting (vote-centric)
Group Deliberating (talk-centric)
Deliberative Poll
Influence on Policy Formation
Influence on Policy Formation
of a liberal, constitutional democracy
Derived from diverse visions of the good
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The Emergence of Public Opinion as the Interface
between the State and Civil Society
Princes, the Aristocracy and the Emerging
Nation-State
The State
Public Opinion
Public Sphere
Merchants/ Bourgeois
Civil Society
Private Sphere
HabermasThe Structural Transformation Of the
Public Sphere
5
Jim Fishkins Deliberative Poll andthe
Regulatory Ideal of Deliberation

• the only way in which a human being can make
  some approach to knowing the whole of a subject,
  is by hearing what can be said about it by
  persons of every variety of opinion... JS Mill,
  On Liberty
• An ideal of deliberationwould take us
  ultimately to something like the ideal speech
  situation of Jurgen Habermas -- a situation of
  free and equal discussion, unlimited in its
  duration, constrained only by the consensus which
  would be arrived at by the force of the better
  argument (Democracy and Deliberation, p. 36)

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Deliberative PollsEquality and Deliberation

• Dilemma Movement southwest serves political
  equality, but movement northeast serves
  deliberation
• Our choice seems to be between a kind of
  politically equal but nondeliberative direct
  democracy (e.g., primaries and referendums) and a
  kind of deliberative but not politically equal
  representative democracy
• Objective To achieve deliberative
  classification for an institution that also
  managedto achieve both political equality and
  nontyranny.

Madisonian
Nondeliberative
Direct
Representative (Senate, Congress, City
Council Legislative Bodies)
Deliberative
Majoritarian
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Fishkins Deliberative Poll

• A deliberative pollbrings the face-to-face
  democracy of the Athenian Assembly or the New
  England town meeting to the large-scale
  nation-state.
• A deliberative opinion poll models what the
  electorate would think if, hypothetically, it
  could be immersed in an intensive deliberative
  process.
• A deliberative poll is prescriptive, not
  predictive. It has recommending force

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Methods of Selection for Ascertaining Public
Opinion
Random Sample
Small Group Discussion
Expert Panel
Small Group Discussion
Survey (Poll)
9
New Haven Regional Deliberative Poll (March,
2002) Small Group Settings
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Panels of Experts
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Plenary Sessions
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Mayors Reception New Haven Regional
Deliberative Poll June, 2003
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E-Democracy Movements
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E-Democracy Movements
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E-Deliberative Democracy Unchat
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From Shanto Iyengar Online DP Talk at Yale 4/03
Lotus Sametime
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PBSs DeliberativePolling Initiative
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(No Transcript)
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PICOLA ProjectDeliberative Poll
Document Design/Access
Computer-Mediated Communications
(Visual Language Argumentation Maps --
Embedded Critical Reasoning)
(High Audio/Video Telepresence Deliberative Democ
racy Design)
Issue Representation
Issue Discussion
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Creating an On-line Citizen
Changing a World
Immersion
Agency
Entering a World
Discussions, interactions, polling consequences
of e-consultation through the published results
of the poll)
(An online Community)
Role
Transformation
Changing Oneself
(the role of citizen -- both during the poll and
afterwards)
User
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Public Informed Citizens Online Assembly (PICOLA)
Online Deliberative Poll Version of PICOLA
22
Americas Role in the World National Security
Americas Role in the World Global Economy
23
Polling exercise shows influence on voters'
opinions Information changes minds Sunday,
January 25, 2004 By Jack Kelly, Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette
24
Postscript Overcoming Rational Ignorance Through
Deliberative Polls and Deliberation Day

• Anthony Downs An Economic Theory of Democracy
  (Deductions from the Citizen-Rationality
  Hypothesis)
• Prop. 12 Because nearly every citizen realizes
  his vote is not decisive in each election, the
  incentive of most citizens to acquire information
  before voting is very small
• Prop. 13 A large percentage of citizens --
  including voters -- do not become informed to any
  significant degree on the issues involved in
  elections, even if they believe the outcomes to
  be important

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Postscript Overcoming Rational Ignorance Through
Deliberative Polls and Deliberation Day

• Fishkin and Ackermans Deliberation Day
• PSB Deliberation Day (October 16th, 2004)
• Media Partner WQED Multimedia
• Proposed Pittsburgh Regional Program for
  Deliberative Democracy (2005-2006)
• Improving Regional Decision-Making Through
  Deliberative Democracy
• Sponsored by the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh
  and Carnegie Mellon
• Two Deliberative Polls per year (two topics per
  deliberative poll)
• Mixture of face-to-face and online (synchronous
  and asynchronous)

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References and Resources

• Fishkin, James. The Voice of the People (1995)
• Pittsburgh Citizens Deliberation Site
  (http//caae.phil.cmu.edu/caae/dp/)
• PBS By The People (www.pbs.org/newshour/btp/)
• Stanfords Center for Deliberative Democracy
  (cdd.stanford.edu/)

Note PICOLA was supported in part by the NSF and
Macromedia