Real Democracy Now! a podcast

I have asked all of my guests what they think is the essence of a real democracy. In this episode I showcase their responses.   Professor Carson sees the essence of a real democracy as being about self government and trust.   Luca Belgiorno-Nettis, founder of the newDemocracy Foundation, agreed that people should be able to govern themselves.   Professor Janette Hartz-Karp from Curtin University i...

Professor Graham Smith from Westminster University was part of a number of academics who designed and ran the Democracy Matters project in 2015. This project involved two Citizens' Assemblies both considering devolution of local decision-making.  In addition to being demonstration projects around engaging everyday citizens in decision-making about local governance these two process involved slight...

The newDemocracy Foundation is a  is an independent, non-partisan research organisation here is Australia that aims to identify improvements to our democratic process with a focus on promoting deliberative mini-publics as a key democratic reform. Iain Walker is the Executive Director of the newDemocracy Foundation and has designed and managed over twenty deliberative mini-publics for local and Sta...

Peter MacLeod is the CEO and Founder of MASS LBP, a Canadian consultancy focused on democratic innovation and public strategy.  Since 2007, MASS has led some of the country's most original and ambitious efforts to engage citizens in tackling tough policy choices while pioneering the use of Civic Lotteries and Reference Panels on behalf of forward-thinking governments. MASS LBP has conducted twenty...

Professor Janette Hartz-Karp is a Professor in the Sustainability Policy Unit at Curtin University in Western Australia. As well as undertaking research in the area of democratic innovations Janette has lead numerous large innovative deliberative processes as community engagement consultant to the then Western Australian Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Allanah McTernan, and more recently...

Deliberative mini-publics are a popular form of democratic innovation around the world. In today's episode I talk to a range of people to get their perspectives on what is behind this popularity. Professor Graham Smith is a Professor of Politics in the Centre for the Study of Democracy, in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Westminster in London. Professor...

Jay Weatherill is South Australia's 45th Premier and has held that position since 2014.    Under his leadership South Australia has become a leading light in democratic reform in Australia and around the world. In particular, South Australia has been at the forefront in the use of deliberative mini-publics, or citizens' juries as they are often called here in Australia.   In South Australia the Go...

Helene Landemore is an A/Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Her research interests include democratic theory and theories of justice. Her book Democratic Reason: Politics, Collective Intelligence, and the Rule of the Many , was based on her PhD research in which she demonstrated that decisions taken by the many are more likely to be right than decisions taken by the few. Helene is...

Professor Carson is a world renowned expert on deliberative mini-publics, having researched, designed and run them as well as training others in how to engage with citizens through dialogue, deliberation and engagement.  Carson is passionate about improving how democracy works. Carson would like to see Australia leading the way in democratic reform, perhaps by setting up a Citizens' Senate, provid...

Real Democracy Now! a podcast is for people who think we can and should do democracy better.  In this podcast I talk with experts, practitioners, change agents and everyday people about how democracy works and how we might do it better. Real Democracy Now! a podcast looks at democracy from different angles to help you think more deeply about democracy and identify the ways you think it could be im...