Creating space for democracy

Review Details Date: 18 October 2013 Author: Marian Sawer Publisher: Australian Review of Public Affairs (ARPA) Owning Institution(s): The University of Sydney Book Details Title: Meeting Democracy: Power and Deliberation in Global Justice Movements Publisher: Cambridge University Press Date Published: 2013 Author/s: Donatella della Porta (ed) Dieter Rucht (ed) Additional Books:  Title: NGOs, Civil Society, and the Public Sphere Publisher: Cambridge University Press Author/s: Sabine Lang Date Published: 2013 Deliberative democrats sometimes assume that existing political organisations, including NGOs or social movement organisations, are too bound up with pre-given interests or ideological frames to provide a public sphere where such deliberation can occur. They favour new mechanisms, ranging from deliberative polls to citizens’ juries, consensus conferences or citizens’ assemblies, to achieve the quality of deliberation that should be central to democracy. But is it true that existing organisations make poor homes for deliberative democracy? Read Marian Sawer\u27s full article in the Australian Review of Public Affairs. Image: book cover