Designing Deliberative Democracy: The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly (Theories of Institutional Design) - Hardcover

 
9780521885072: Designing Deliberative Democracy: The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly (Theories of Institutional Design)
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0521885078 ISBN 13: 9780521885072
Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2008

Synopsis

Is it possible to advance democracy by empowering ordinary citizens to make key decisions about the design of political institutions and policies? In 2004, the government of British Columbia embarked on a bold democratic experiment: it created an assembly of 160 near-randomly selected citizens to assess and redesign the province's electoral system. The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly represents the first time a citizen body has had the power to reform fundamental political institutions. It was an innovative gamble that has been replicated elsewhere in Canada and in the Netherlands, and is gaining increasing attention in Europe as a democratic alternative for constitution-making and constitutional reform. In the USA, advocates view citizens' assemblies as a means for reforming referendum processes. This book investigates the citizens' assembly in British Columbia to test and refine key propositions of democratic theory and practice.

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About the Authors

Mark E. Warren holds the Harold and Dorrie Merilees Chair for the Study of Democracy and is Academic Director of the Centre for the Study of Democratic Institutions at the University of British Columbia.

Hilary Pearse is a Ph.D. candidate and Commonwealth Scholar in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Publication date
2008
Language
English
ISBN 10 
0521885078
ISBN 13 
9780521885072
Binding
Hardcover
Number of pages
252
Editor
Warren Mark E., Pearse Hilary