A Weekend to Fix Democracy?

Guest post by Oli Henman

How do we decide about democracy? What are the major changes that would lead to transparent politics?

Last weekend people from across the UK were given that chance- this was the moment when the key ideas that have been brought together from across the country on the POWER 2010 website were put before a cross-section of people to pull out the main areas for the next stage of the campaign. Supported by the Joseph Rowntree Trust, this Deliberative Poll was part of a broader campaign that is running in the build-up to the next General Election. I went to check it out…

People from all walks of life were chosen as a representative sample, to work together over 2 days to develop their own thinking on tough choices like voting rules, House of Lords reform, local government and civil rights. These might sound like complex issues but following the recent expenses scandal and in the midst of a new Inquiry into the Iraq War, people were extremely active in putting their views across. In fact people were so active in their involvement that it often felt that time was too short, as from over 4,000 suggestions on the website this poll had to pull out only 30 major recommendations to be shared with supporters around the country.

The Deliberative Poll method was developed by Professor James Fishkin at Stanford University and it focuses on a rigourous sociological process to ensure a highly detailed body of recommendations. One major part of the analysis revolves around comparing the views of participants at the start and at the end of the process, this way the transformative effect of the deliberative process can be measured. So the participants themselves shape and develop the recommendations, with an opportunity to throw questions at specialists and to draw on background information on the subject matter. This leads to an exciting situation whereby the method reflects the basis of democratic debate and leads to very open conclusions.

But this is only one step along the way for POWER 2010. We’ll see what this group developed, and the recommendations it made to the British public, very soon and in the next stage everyone has a say in defining which issues will be on the final list for the election… what’s your choice?