The Voice of the People / H. D. Forbes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forbes, H. D. (Hugh Donald), Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation--United States.

Political participation.

Democracy--United States.

Democracy.

Public opinion--United States.

Public opinion.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

New Haven, CT : Yale University Press, [1995]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Ours is an era of stunted public discourse, where instant polls, 900 numbers, orchestrated petitions, and talk-show campaigning appear to have overwhelmed participatory democracy. What has become of the freely reasoned public debate and informed "consent of the governed" that, as cherished principle, we hold will produce better leaders and better public decisions? Where-or what-is the voice of the people todoay?In this lively book James Fishkin evaluates modern democratic practices and explains how the voice of the people has struggled to make itself heard in the past. He tells a fascinating story of changing concepts and parctices of democracy, with examples that range from ancient Sparta to America's founders to the first Gallup polls to Ross Perot. He then develops the rationale for a new method-the "deliberative opinion poll"-that uses modern media and survey research to legitimately rediscover the people's voice.Fishkin's proposal for televised deliberative opinion polls has already been realized twice by the British television network Channel 4, and he discusses its implementation in the book. In January 1996, his deliberative poll will be seen in action in a "National Issues Convention" to be broadcast by PBS on the eve of the American presidential primary season. During this broadcast, a national random sample of citizens will interact with presidential contenders in order to reflect and vote on the issues and candidates. Fishkin discusses the pros and cons of this important event, giving behind-the-scenes details about preparations for it.Here then is a compelling story of citizen deliberation from ancient Athens to the present, setting the context for future deliberative polls and related efforts to reinvigorate our public dialogue.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

l INTRODUCTION

2 WHO SPEAKS FOR THE PEOPLE?

3. HOW "PUBLIC OPINION " BECAME THE VOICE OF THE PEOPLE

4 WHO ARE THE PEOPLE?

5 GIVING THE PEOPLE VOICE

AFTERWORD The National Issues Convention and Beyond

APPENDIX A The First Deliberative Poll: Summary of Results

APPENDIX B Who Came? Some Comparisons of Weekend Sample to Entire Baseline Survey (in Percentages)

APPENDIX C . Comparison of Sample Delegates with U.S. Census Data

APPENDIX D Eight Deliberative Polls, 1994-97: How Participants Change (Selected Results)

APPENDIX E Do the Changes Last? British Deliberative Poll on Crime

APPENDIX F How Participants Evaluated the Process at the NIC

APPENDIX G National Issues Convention Committees and Advisory Board

NOTES

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

ISBN:

9780300146707

0300146701

OCLC:

1024039979