Next weekend, January 9-10, Power2010 will hold a national face to face Deliberative Poll in London. The agenda comes from thousands of online submissions to their web site about how to improve the political system. A national online sample, recruited by YouGov, representative in both attititudes and demographics will meet face to face in London to choose the highest priority reforms. Those top priorities will then be used in a national non-partisan campaign to get candidates in constituencies around the country to pledge their support. The project is unique in combining online submissions with face to face deliberations by a scientific sample (with a control group). It is also unique in taking a sample from virtual space, transporting it to London and having it deliberate face to face. Results should be available next week at Power2010.
Other new Deliberative Polls come from
-- LaPlata, Argentina, on transit and traffic issues;
-- Kanagawa, Japan, on proposals to reform the federal system (click here to view Kanagawa's governor explaining the DP's purpose);
-- Poznan, Poland, on a stadium being built for the Euro 2012 soccer tournament;
-- Porto Alegre, Brazil, about proposals for civil service reform.
And coming later this month are the results of a Deliberative Poll in Michigan, on the economic crisis there.
Deliberative Polling is one of several forms of deliberative consultation that is gaining interest among policy makers. Click here to listen to a BBC Radio 4 program, Beyond Westminster, that discusses Deliberative Polls and local applications of participatory budgeting and citizens juries in Britain and the reactions of policy makers to actual applications.
Deliberative Polls are town hall meetings in which more than shouting is heard.
Sincerely,
Bill Corbett
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