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Project Manager – Dennis Boyer
December 2016 Update: Recent events appear to have increased interest in this topic. To read Dennis Boyer’s reflections on some of the recent discussions of this project, click on either following text link or on the blue button in the sidebar for “Democratic Practice & Process Discussions – Dec. 2016.”
This project focused on governance approaches that society might take in dealing with how we act as citizens, participate in democratic structures, and exercise choice in the selection of officials and the direct decisions on issues. The project commenced in Fall 2010 with two discussion panels from Wisconsin, which wrapped up their work in the spring of 2011.
Panelists explored what democracy is and why we value it. This open-ended exploration looked at various dimensions of democracy and considered such matters as “authenticity”, “meaningful participation”, “costs”, and “barriers”. Out of these discussions IF produced a Discussion Report containing a number of contrasting public policy possibilities for citizen discussion.
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You can download a copy of this report from our “Discussion Reports” page (also listed in the sidebar to the right), which lists all of our published reports, or, to download a PDF copy directly, you can click on the following link: The United States’ Democratic Promise (36 pages/890 KB) or en Español, Promesa Democrática (36 páginas/958 KB).
