Anthony Barnett (London, OK): As the Brown government makes a hash of its so-called citizens juries, James Fishkin reports on the conclusion to the altogether more serious efforts to listen to the people of Europe which Clive James Matthews has been blogging over on our sister site dLiberation. It is a must-read if you are really interested in 'listening to the people'. Fishkin works from the Centre for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford and has developed a sophisticated form of deliberative polling. For a good overview of the issues involved see his review of the best selling Wisdom of Crowds. He concludes:
The Europe-wide Deliberative Poll brought old and new Europe into the same room, both physically and in terms of their views. Europe in microcosm can achieve mutual understanding and respect and its public can deal knowledgeably with very difficult issues.
He brings out the differences between EU citizens from the new member countries and their greater resistance to enlargement and the way opinions changed through the course of discussion. Read his summary HERE.
