Deliberation, Democracy, and Civic Forums: Improving Equality and Publicity

416 Pages·2014·1.97 MB·English

by  Christopher F. Karpowitz

Deliberation,Democracy,andCivicForums
Innovativeforumsthatintegratecitizendeliberationintopolicymakingarerevi-
talizing democracy in many places around the world. Yet controversy abounds
overwhethertheseforumsoughttobeseenasauthenticsourcesofpublicopinion
andhowtheyshouldfitwithexistingpoliticalinstitutions.Howcancivicforums
includelesspowerfulcitizensandensurethattheirperspectivesareheardonequal
termswithmoreprivilegedcitizens,officials,andpolicyexperts?Howcanthese
fragileinstitutionscommunicatecitizens’policypreferenceseffectivelyandlegit-
imately to the rest of the political system? Deliberation, Democracy, and Civic
Forumsproposescreativesolutionsforimprovingequalityandpublicity,which
aregroundedinnewtheoriesaboutdemocraticdeliberation,acarefulreviewof
researchandpracticeinthefield,andseveraloriginalstudies.Thisbookspeaks
toscholars,practitioners,andsponsorsofcivicengagement,publicmanagement
andconsultation,anddeliberativeandparticipatorydemocracy.
Christopher F. Karpowitz is an associate professor of political science and the
co-directoroftheCenter fortheStudyofElectionsandDemocracyatBrigham
YoungUniversity.HeisacoauthorofTheSilentSex:Gender,Deliberation,and
Institutions(2014)andofDemocracyatRisk:HowPoliticalChoicesUndermine
CitizenParticipation,andWhatWeCanDoaboutIt(2005).Hehaspublished
in a variety of journals, including the American Political Science Review, the
American Journal of Political Science, the Journal of Politics, Public Opinion
Quarterly,theBritishJournalofPoliticalScience,PerspectivesonPolitics,Politi-
calCommunication,Politics&Society,PS:PoliticalScienceandPolitics,andthe
JournalofPublicDeliberation.PriortojoiningBYU,hewasapostdoctoralfel-
lowindemocracyandhumanvaluesatPrincetonUniversity’sCenterforHuman
Values.
ChadRaphaelisaprofessorofcommunicationatSantaClaraUniversity.Heis
theauthorofInvestigatedReporting:Muckrakers,Regulators,andtheStruggle
overTelevisionDocumentary(2005),whichwontheFrankLutherMott–Kappa
TauAlphaResearchAwardforthebestbookonjournalismandmasscommu-
nication,theDonaldMcGannonAwardforsocialandethicalrelevanceincom-
munications policy research, and the Association for Education in Journalism
and Mass Communication History Division Award for best book. He has pub-
lishedinmanyjournals,includingPoliticalCommunication,PoliticsandSociety,
CommunicationLawandPolicy,JournalismStudies,theJournalofEducational
Computing Research, the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and
Games and Culture, and in many edited volumes. He consults for non-profit
organizationsontheircommunicationstrategiesandisformerchairoftheboard
at the Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation and the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition.
Beforeenteringacademia,hewasacommunityorganizeronaffordablehousing
andenvironmentalissues.

Deliberation, Democracy,
and Civic Forums
Improving Equality and Publicity
CHRISTOPHER F. KARPOWITZ
BrighamYoungUniversity
CHAD RAPHAEL
SantaClaraUniversity
32AvenueoftheAmericas,NewYork,NY10013-2473,USA
CambridgeUniversityPressispartoftheUniversityofCambridge.
ItfurtherstheUniversity’smissionbydisseminatingknowledgeinthepursuitof
education,learning,andresearchatthehighestinternationallevelsofexcellence.
www.cambridge.org
Informationonthistitle:www.cambridge.org/9781107046436
©CambridgeUniversityPress2014
Thispublicationisincopyright.Subjecttostatutoryexception
andtotheprovisionsofrelevantcollectivelicensingagreements,
noreproductionofanypartmaytakeplacewithoutthewritten
permissionofCambridgeUniversityPress.
Firstpublished2014
PrintedintheUnitedKingdombyClays,StIvesplc
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Karpowitz,ChristopherF.,1969–
Deliberation,democracy,andcivicforums:improvingequalityandpublicity/
ChristopherF.Karpowitz,ChadRaphael.
pages cm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-107-04643-6(hardback)
1.Politicalparticipation. 2.Politicalplanning–Citizenparticipation.
3.Democratization. I.Raphael,Chad. II.Title.
JF799.K37 2014
323(cid:2).042–dc23 2014018611
ISBN978-1-107-04643-6Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyof
URLsforexternalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublication
anddoesnotguaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,
accurateorappropriate.
For Betty and Adin and
for Jordan, Caleb, Quinn, Cami, and Zachary

Contents
Tablesandfigures pageviii
Acknowledgments x
Introduction 1
1 Democraticdeliberationincivicforums 34
PartI Equality
2 Enclavedeliberationofthedisempowered 89
3 Enclavedeliberationaboutthedigitaldivide
withAllenS.HammondIV 157
PartII Publicity
4 Deliberativepublicity 201
5 Argumentation 242
6 Transparency 294
7 Strengtheningdeliberativecivicforums 337
References 361
Index 390
vii
Tables and figures
TableI.1 Typesofcivicforums page13
Table1.1 Elementsofdemocraticdeliberationincivicforums 37
Table1.2 Decisionmethodsandautonomyincivicforums 55
Table2.1 Inclusionandenclavesincivicforums 109
Figure2.1 Waysofintegratingenclavedeliberation 93
Table3.1 Communitypanelandcontrolpanelcharacteristics 165
Table3.2 Communitypanelists’viewsofparticipation 167
Table3.3 Communitypanelists’viewsofagreementand
disagreement 171
Table3.4 Communitypanelists’viewsofautonomy 174
Table3.5 Expertevaluationsofdiversityofviews 176
Table3.6 Panelists’rationalesformunicipalbroadband 178
Table3.7 Impressionsofcommunitypanelists’knowledgeof
theissues 185
Table3.8 Expertviewsoftheconsensusconference 192
Figure3.1 (a)Recognitionofdisagreement.(b)Recognitionof
diversityofviews 170
Figure3.2 Internalefficacy 175
Figure3.3 (a)Interpersonaltrust.(b)Self-interestandcommon
good 181
Figure3.4 (a)Knowledgeofbroadband.(b)Knowledgeof
broadband’sadvantages 183
Figure3.5 KnowledgeofUSbroadbandpenetrationrankingin
theworld 184
Figure3.6 Opinionstrength 188
Table4.1 Argumentationindicators 215
Table4.2 Transparencyindicators 230
Table5.1 Sampleofreports 245
viii