“Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.” Aldous Huxley, English philosopher, writer, author of Brave New World, born #OTD 1894. Photo by Charles Sheeler, Michener Art Museum
Ian O'Flynn
@delibnet.bsky.social
Promoting work on deliberative democracy https://www.ncl.ac.uk/gps/staff/profile/ianoflynn.html
Lottocracy is neither plausible nor desirable (Kolodny's negative review highlights many of the crucial issues). But it's a useful thought experiment nonetheless in that it forces us to think harder about electoral democracy in practice and in theory. P.S. I've read the article, not the book.
Alex Guerrero@alexgphilosophy.bsky.social · 2w ago“Lottocracy is the most ambitious and careful effort to imagine and defend a new form of government since the invention of modern representative systems. This is a remarkable feat…” Claudio López-Guerra, Philosophical Review Eight great reviews of Lottocracy here: www.lottocracy.org/reviews
Secession (and national self-determination more generally) is such an interesting topic. Ron Levy, Hoi Kong and I tried to offer a deliberative perspective on it in our 2021 OUP book on deliberative referendums but I think there's lots more to be said. www.harpercollins.com/products/sec...
Secession
A book that will launch a million debates. Constitutional law professor Kent Greenfield delivers the highly provocative yet carefully reasoned case for sece...
harpercollins.com
An important point (which, coincidentally, reinforces the point about DD that I was just trying to make).
Anthony Zacharzewski@anthonyzach.be · 3w agoIt’s totally rational, in their warped mentality. Difference and complexity must be destroyed for a fascist world to come about. Attacking language centres is part of that, like burning books is.
Why should delib dems be concerned about foreign influence in British politics? There's a great project to be pursued here.* *Sorry for sounding like a broken record, but has the field become so narrow in focus over recent years that it risks irrelevance? www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Trump administration to grant $12m to groups founded by UK conservatives Jacob Rees-Mogg and Toby Young
Exclusive: Controversial grants are part of package criticised as misuse of public money to influence European politics
theguardian.com
📆🗞️ July’s Citizen Participation Network newsletter is out, featuring citizens’ assemblies, AI governance, community wealth building, democratic capabilities, new research, publications and opportunities. 📍Available 👉🏼 www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/wa-j...
"Voters have a right to know." Indeed. But would it make a difference to your average reform voter? What else would be required? www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
What's curious is that he's doing so explicitly. Will those who vote for him see these as acceptable arguments? Is there any deliberative rationality at work here at all? It doesn't seem so, so what does that tell us?
Adam Bienkov@adambienkov.bsky.social · 4w agoNever before has a politician announced their intention to run for re-election on an explicitly pro-sleaze, anti-transparency ticket. Never before has a politician gloried in having enriched themselves by breaking the rules, and then demanded a mandate to continue doing so indefinitely
"A decision communicated without any reasoning. Football is just told it is happening, and it must accept it." A good piece. Quite Orwellian in places. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
World Cup 2026: Is Balogun the scandal that could bring down Infantino?
After 10 years as Fifa president, could the Folarin Balogun controversy tip the balance against Gianni Infantino? Don't bet on it.
bbc.co.uk
"When the certainty of rules is no longer guaranteed by its guardians, the integrity of the game is at stake and the credibility of a competition is undermined," Uefa said in a statement. Same for constitutional democracy. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...
World Cup 2026: Uefa claim 'integrity of the game is at stake' over Fifa's Folarin Balogun decision
Uefa says Fifa's decision not to uphold Folarin Balogun's immediate ban at the World Cup is "unprecedented, incomprehensible and unjustifiable".
bbc.co.uk
www.linkedin.com/posts/dimitr...
PSA Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Conference - Political Studies Association | Dimitri Courant
Next week our #PDD26 conference on #DemocraticInnovations & #DemocraticFutures takes place at the University of Southampton. This conference is free, no fee. You can still book your tickets. Sponsore...
linkedin.com
This is the right decision and suspect others will now follow, but very interesting timing on this
www.linkedin.com/posts/hans-a...
✨AI & Democracy PhD Scholarship✨ I am recruiting a domestic or international PhD student to join the Centre for Deliberative Democracy for my Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA project Smart…...
✨AI & Democracy PhD Scholarship✨ I am recruiting a domestic or international PhD student to join the Centre for Deliberative Democracy for my Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA project Smart Demo...
linkedin.com
www.linkedin.com/posts/centre...
🥁 🥁 🥁 We're looking for our next colleague to join our Centre! 💥 We are recruiting a Deliberative Democracy Fellow (Level B) to join the Centre for Deliberative Democracy at the University of… | ...
🥁 🥁 🥁 We're looking for our next colleague to join our Centre! 💥 We are recruiting a Deliberative Democracy Fellow (Level B) to join the Centre for Deliberative Democracy at the University of Canberr...
linkedin.com
“L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, French philosopher, born #OTD 1712; portrayed in Armenian papakha & costume by Scottish artist Allan Ramsay in 1766. National Galleries of Scotland
Interesting take on our post-truth post-Brexit world. (Another topic on which DDs, despite what you might have expected, haven't had much to say about. ... I must do up a proper list at some point.)
Fintan O'Toole@fotoole.bsky.social · last mo.PonP early view: Kramon on "Why Do Deliberative Discussions Reduce Affective Polarization? Evidence from a Deliberation Experiment in Honduras." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Why Do Deliberative Discussions Reduce Affective Polarization? Evidence from a Deliberation Experiment in Honduras | Perspectives on Politics | Cambridge Core
Why Do Deliberative Discussions Reduce Affective Polarization? Evidence from a Deliberation Experiment in Honduras
cambridge.org
There are a host of normative and conceptual problems attaching to the idea that parties and partisans should pay attention to what mini-publics have to say -- or, more accurately, how and when they should pay attention to them. Groan. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
How Politicians Understand Deliberation: Evidence from a Setting with Limited Experience and Exposure
Previous studies have explained politicians’ positioning on deliberation, while paying little attention to what they understand by deliberative practices. This article addresses this gap in the lit...
tandfonline.com
Some rather pessimistic thoughts alas about the UK rejoining the EU @uclei.bsky.social But even the best cause is not well served by wishful thinking: ucleuropeblog.com/2026/06/23/r...
REFERENDUM+10: No Great Leap in Reverse | Albert Weale
The Brexit referendum in 2016 was a one-time event with long-lasting and damaging consequences for the UK. It is tempting to think that another one-time event in the form of a return referendum on …
ucleuropeblog.com
I've mentioned this before, but it's a real shame that DDs have never saw fit to work consistently on the challenges of nationalism and populism. For every issue, the answer seems to be: let's hold a mini-public. Fiddling at the margins. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Keir Starmer couldn’t beat the curse of Brexit – a politics poisoned by nationalism | Rafael Behr
The outgoing prime minister’s efforts to mobilise a healthier kind of patriotism fell flat. Andy Burnham may stand a better chance, says Guardian columnist Rafael Behr
theguardian.com
Deliberative democracy in China? Perhaps unsurprisingly, "China" appears in the main body of the text a grand total of three times. "Chinese" doesn't appear at all. journals.explorerpress.com/index.php/cr...
The Democratic Foundation of Resilience Governance: The Institutional Construction of Digital Deliberative Democracy in Community Resilience Governance : Research Article | Crisis and Resilience
[1] Hendriks, C. M. and L. Carson (2008). "Can the market help the forum? Negotiating the commercialization of deliberative democracy." Policy Sciences 41(4): 293-313. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11077-008-9069-8
journals.explorerpress.com
www.linkedin.com/posts/centre...
📣 Fully Funded PhD Scholarship in Deliberative Democracy 📣 📍 Application deadline: 10 August 2026 Join us at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy, University of Canberra as a PhD candidate… | Cent...
📣 Fully Funded PhD Scholarship in Deliberative Democracy 📣 📍 Application deadline: 10 August 2026 Join us at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy, University of Canberra as a PhD candidate commenc...
linkedin.com
Artificial Intelligence has become autocrats’ newest tool for surveilling, targeting, and crushing dissent. Activists must learn how to harness it in the fight for freedom.
How Autocrats Weaponize AI — And How to Fight Back | Journal of Democracy
Artificial Intelligence has become autocrats’ newest tool for surveilling, targeting, and crushing dissent. But this supercharged technology doesn’t need to favor tyrants. Activists must learn how to…
journalofdemocracy.org
A study in weasel words. Actually, it's worse than that. He might simply have said he doesn't care. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Cadbury chocolate-owner Mondelez defends staying in Russia
Mondelez boss Dirk Van de Put says it was the "right decision" to remain after the war with Ukraine.
bbc.co.uk
Quite magnificent.
The New York Review of Books@nybooks.com · 2mo ago“Trump’s constant reference to the idea that the world has nothing better to do but sit around and laugh at America is not incompatible with American exceptionalism—it is a kind of backhanded compliment to it.” —@fotoole.bsky.social
Happy Bloomsday "...and yes I said yes I will Yes." Leopold Bloom's Dublin day #OTD 1904 Ulysses by James Joyce, published in Paris 1922 by Sylvia Beach (Shakespeare and Company).
Silly, but at least didn't mention a citizens' assembly. www.rte.ie/news/ireland...
Fine Gael to develop 'blueprint' for unified island
Fine Gael is to develop a new blueprint for a unified island which it will publish at the party's Ard Fheis in November.
rte.ie
An interesting read.
Markus Patberg@mpatberg.bsky.social · 3mo agoA few thoughts on the EU after Jürgen Habermas. Key idea: The defense of a democratic public sphere, esp. against Big Tech, should be regarded today as one of the EU’s foremost tasks. For the EU, this offers a chance to prove its (dormant) democratic value. ucleuropeblog.com/2026/05/18/t...
The trouble is the legislatures, or at least the parties that people them, are partisan creatures. That's very hard to square with the open-mindedness that deliberation requires. It's little wonder that, e.g., cherry picking is a real problem.
Citizen Participation@oliverescobar.bsky.social · 2mo ago🏛️ 🤔 What if one of the most important democratic reforms of the next decade is a better way for parliaments to work? Our new report explores options for embedding mini-publics within legislatures. 📘 Report 👉 carnegieuk.org/publication/... 📅 Webinar 23 June 👉 carnegieuk-org.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
