Deliberative Dialogue

The following is based on text from Public Deliberation: A Manager’s Guide to Citizen Engagement by Carolyn J. Lukensmeyer and Lars Hasselblad Torres.

Deliberation can be distinguished from other forms of public involvement in its emphasis on individuals being willing to examine solutions in terms of a common best interest, i.e., the interest of one’s neighbourhood, community, or programme as a whole. Deliberation also presupposes that no individual holds the best answer to a public problem; rather, the process of structured conversation will yield optimal solutions for impacted parties and the public at large. Finally, deliberation differs from, for example, negotiation in that participants are usually not coming to the table with strong ideas about where they will or will not compromise on alternatives to accommodate the needs of others. Instead, participants come prepared to engage in the free and equal sharing of information that will assist everyone to arrive at reasonable, if not ultimately more just and practicable, outcomes.

Five Reasons for Using Deliberative Public Dialogue

1. Citizen participation in policy formulation and decision making can reduce conflict
2. Deliberative citizen participation can lead to better, longer lasting, and wiser policy choices
3. Citizen involvement in decision making is something democratic governments should do
4. Deliberation builds citizen competence
5. Citizen participation cultivates mutual understanding; builds bonds of trust among citizens, decision makers, and governing institutions; and can effect changes in political attitudes and behaviour

More information

• Making Choices Together: the Power of Public Deliberation We are using a deliberative process developed by the National Issues Forms.
• Who Gets Born? Pre-birth Testing Choicebook
• Online forum for pre-birth testing dialogue