Tony Curzon Price (London, openDemocracy): We - particularly the "we" who think and talk about politics too much - have a picture of a thriving public space as one in which informed citizens discuss and debate, from fundamentals to tactics, values to vices, news to gossip, action and reflection, serving on that committee and organising this grouplet ... and always holding power to account. What stops this vision coming about? According to Matthias Benz, over on openDemocracy's Deliberation Debate, referenda have a measurable impact on how much people talk about political issues. His message: if you want people engaged, informing themselves and talking politics, get them to vote on issues. Matthias does some serious statistics to measure the size of the effect. Here are some ways of thinking of the impact. The difference between the most and least participative institutions is about the same, in terms of informed-ness, as:
- the difference between naturalised versus native citizens
- the difference between registered party members and unregistered voters
- a near-doubling of household income
Maybe the result is not so surprising: give citizens meaningful choices and they behave in responsible ways. But it puts a real burden on the Citizens' Juries, Deliberative Polls, Participative Budgets and various local initiatives to tie themselves to real and significant decisions.
