Tag Archives: deliberation

An Exemplar of Civic Conversation

Owen Coyle, a friend of over thirty years duration, passed away a week ago and the time since has been filled with memories of political collaborations and stories shared about our other adventures. The collaborations started with sharing the same office at the Wisconsin headquarters of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Read more »

Posted in Perspectives | Also tagged civic engagement, conversations, democracy, generosity | 1 Comment

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Why Contrasting Possibilities?

By: Mark Notturno

So much of what goes on under the name of political discussion is aimed at persuading people to accept certain public policies. And so much of what goes on in facilitated public policy discussions is aimed at bringing a group to consensus. This is not the aim of IF’s sanctuary and citizen discussions. We believe Read more »

Posted in Perspectives | Also tagged civic engagement, discussion process, educational implications, personal development | Leave a comment

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Making the Town Hall Work

By: Dennis Boyer

The “ambush” of US Congressional representatives over the summer of 2009 by the foes of national health care reform did little to endear expanded citizen participation to those who bore the brunt of bullying and disruption at so-called “town hall” meetings on the subject. Several issues concerning good governance and useful deliberation were exposed by Read more »

Posted in Perspectives | Also tagged citizen discussions, civic engagement, communication skills, governance | Leave a comment

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Embedding Deliberation in Government

By: Dennis Boyer

If you were to ask a cross-section of elected officials and public sector administrators about the need for embedding deliberative process in government many might respond with indignation. “We already deliberate!”, legislators might protest. “We hold many public hearings where views may be expressed!”, regulators might insist. Debate among opposing views, political brokering, and agency Read more »

Posted in Perspectives | Also tagged civic engagement, embeddedness, governance, Public Discussions | Leave a comment

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The Ethical Dimensions of Deliberation

By: Dennis Boyer

The Interactivity Foundation’s discussion process places much emphasis on producing contrasting possibilities as starting points and aids to citizen discussion. There are many practical reasons for supposing that consideration of a range of alternatives may improve governance skills and outcomes. The learning that accompanies this type of open-ended deliberation exposes participants to many interconnections between Read more »

Posted in Perspectives | Also tagged citizen discussions, ethics | Leave a comment

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