Teaching for Democracy: Collaborative Governance and Civil Political Discourse

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Teaching for DemocracyCollaborative Governance
and Civil Political Discourse

• Lisa Blomgren Bingham
• Keller-Runden Professor of Public Service
• Indiana University School of Public and
  Environmental Affairs Bloomington, IN
• lbingham_at_indiana.edu

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(No Transcript)
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Nancy Thomas Challenges to Democracy

• Adversarial politics
• Outdated systems of public problem solving
• The tyranny of the minority
• Highest levels of economic disparity since the
  1920s and persistent patterns of inequality
  associated with race and gender
• Disengaged citizenry
• Everyday acts of intolerance and incivility

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Overview

• Public Service Values
• Do they include democratic values? Human rights?
  Participation in governance?
• Curricula Elements
• Practices for Civil Public Engagement and
  Political Discourse.
• The Rule of Law and Legal Infrastructure
• Transparent and Open Government
• Resources

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Democracy and Human Rights as Public Service
Values

• Standard 1.1 Mission Statement the Program will
  have a statement of mission that guides
  performance expectations and their evaluation,
  including
• its purpose and public service values, given the
  program's particular emphasis on public affairs,
  administration, and policy .
• Are democratic values and human rights public
  service values?
• Should we consider engaging the public in
  governance a public service value?

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WHAT SHOULD WE TEACH?

• National Summit on Building Civil Political
  Discourse
• Civility resolutions adopted by American Bar
  Association, National League of Cities, and
  others
• We need to teach public managers and future
  public officials about their roles in democracy
• Practices for Civil Public Engagement and
  Political Discourse.
• The Rule of Law and Legal Infrastructure
• Transparent and Open Government

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1. Practices for Civil Public Engagement
Political Discourse

• Collaborative Governance Decentralized,
  negotiated, and participatory relationships with
  those governed,
• Silos of Practice
• Dialogue Deliberation, Deliberative Democracy
• Collaborative Public Network Management
• Dispute Resolution
• For the Public Broadly defined as citizens,
  stakeholders, and persons who are not citizens
  but subject to government jurisdiction

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Example AmericaSpeaks 21st Century Town Meeting

• Scaled up policy dialogues 5,000 people
• 8-10 Participants at facilitated tables
• Demographically representative sample
• Handheld keypad voting and Theme Team
• Preliminary report at end of day
• (www.americaspeaks.org)

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Policy Continuum as a Stream

• Upstream Dialogue and Deliberation
• Used more in process of making policy
• Legislative or quasi-legislative
• Midstream Fourth Branch of Government so All of
  These
• Used for implementation of policy
• Collaborative public network management
• Downstream Dispute Resolution
• Used more in process of enforcing policy
• Judicial or quasi-judicial

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THE POLICY CONTINUUM COLLABORATIVE OR NEW
GOVERNANCE
Upstream
Midstream
Downstream
Legislative Quasi-legislative Making policy
Quasi-judicial Judicial Enforcing Policy
Implementing Policy
Collaborative Public Network Mgmt.
Deliberative Democracy
Dispute Resolution
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2. The Rule of Law and Legal Infrastructure for
Democracy

• E.g. US Backdrop Schecter Poultry and
  Delegation Doctrine
• Administrative Procedure Act (APA 1946) Silent
• Freedom of Information Act Sunshine Act (1966)
  Passive Viewing
• Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA 1972)
  Limiting Collaboration
• Administrative Dispute Resolution Act (ADRA
  1996) Authorizing Dispute Resolution
• Negotiated Rulemaking Act (NRA 1996) Authorizing
  one form of network
• E-Government Act (2002) Uses word
  collaboration

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AN OUTDATED LEGAL INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ENGAGEMENT
Upstream
Midstream
Downstream
Quasi-legislative Making policy
Public Management Implementing Policy
Quasi-judicial Enforcing Policy
APA Rulemaking Adjudication
NRA
ADRA
FACA
Public Participation Statutes
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3. Transparent and Open Government

• Open Government Initiative
• Executive Memorandum on Transparent and Open
  Government (Jan. 2009) requires transparency,
  participation, collaboration
• Open Government Directive (Dec. 2009)
• www.data.gov, www.apps.gov,
• Agencies adopted Open Government Plans
• Agency OG 2.0 Plans concentrating on varieties of
  online public engagement and collaboration

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OG 2.0 Agency Public Engagement Activities
Type of Public Engagement Percent of Agencies Participating
Online Engagement for Policy Development 100
Competitions/Awards 82
Enhanced or Collaborative Transparency 73
Wikis/Knowledge Development Across Sectors 55
Platforms/Spaces/Apps for Collaboration 50
Apps Sharing/Apps Development 45
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The Democracy Imperative Embedding civic
learning and engagement in democracy across the
curriculum
Conflict Resolution
Leadership Education
Intergroup Dialogue
Communication
Education
Political Science
Public Administration
Social Justice and Peace Studies
Cultural Studies
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Curricula Resources

• THE DEMOCRACY IMPERATIVE (TDI) Moving to Tufts
  from UNH
• SYLLABI REPOSITORY http//www.unh.edu/democracy/r
  epository.html
• NATIONAL COALITION FOR DIALOGUE AND DELIBERATION
  WWW.NCDD.ORG
• VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE.COM See Sandy Heierbachers
  Youtube channel
• http//www.youtube.com/user/sheierbacher?featurer
  esults_main
• INSTITUTE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT Guides and
  Resources
• Public Engagement Guide Library
  http//www.ca-ilg.org/post/public-engagement-guide
  s-and-resources-other-organizations
• Local Government Resources http//www.ca-ilg.org/p
  ost/public-engagement-whitepapers-tip-sheets-and-p
  amphlets
• NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE
• http//www.nlc.org/find-city-solutions/center-for-
  research-and-innovation/governance-and-civic-engag
  ement/democratic-governance-and-civic-engagement
• DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY CONSORTIUM
• WWW.DELIBERATIVE-DEMOCRACY.NET