I was the guest for the June episode of the new podcast from Goethe University, Talk Social Science To Me. The main theme was to discuss new ways of involving citizens in democracy, but the conversation led us to many topics, ranging from the effects of the pandemic on democratic governance to the role of democracies in the climate crisis. The podcast is now available on Spotify, Youtube and other podcast providers.
After a decade of progress on teenage pregnancy, youth crime and other indicators of adolescent social exclusion, the trend is beginning to reverse.
Who could have guessed, even one year ago, that America’s postal service would be central to the US Presidential Election? That political party conventions would become online events? Or that protests could be suppressed in the name of biosecurity and protesters could be fined for not wearing face masks? The COVID-19 pandemic has had myriad unpredictable impacts on democratic institutions around the world…
Rikki Dean, John Boswell and Graham Smith analyse an attempt to design a systems-oriented democratic innovation: the NHS Citizen initiative. They write that, while the initiative pioneered some cutting-edge participatory design, it failed to resolve well-known obstacles to institutionalisation. They argue that similar projects must evolve strategies to meet such challenges.
Imagine you are a civil servant. You have just convinced your somewhat skeptical colleagues that your new policy initiative should incorporate extensive public participation in its design process. You now have some tough choices to make: who is going to participate in the process, for example? You know that if you keep participation open to all, then the process will be criticized within your department for just involving the usual suspects. But if you restrict participation, to a randomly selected group for instance, then you know there are some influential policy NGOs who will be vocal about their exclusion…
This post is a response to Sonia Bussu’s recent blog outlining two potential models for the NHS Citizens’ Assembly; the first a deliberative polling approach to informing the overall strategic direction of the NHS; the second, a collaborative problem-solving approach between the Board and citizens.
These are some of my reflections on trying to create a participatory process to involve people in the NHS England’s policy formation called “NHS Citizen”. The thoughts are based on observing an open design meeting held in Bristol on 22-23 October 2013.
The Coalition Government has been at the forefront of using insights from behavioural research to craft more effective policies, ‘nudging’ citizens in other words. Rikki Dean argues that ‘nudges’, especially those that rely on deception or concealment, should be subject to a ‘participatory principle’. Only citizens themselves can legitimately rule on what is in their own interest, and therefore there should be greater exploration around how to involve the public in decisions about their use.
Rikki Dean argues that the current proposals to develop measures that downplay income and material deprivation in favour of family breakdown and addiction are based on an incoherent conception of poverty that conflates child poverty with child well-being. To argue that family breakdown and addiction are part of the definition of poverty is indicative of prejudice towards the poor. Moreover, the simple truth is that there is little correlation between family structures and poverty.