I've mentioned this a few times before, but we could really do with some work on deliberative democracy and international negotiation or diplomacy.
Now that interest in mini-publics seems to be on the wain, maybe DDs will take up these larger challenges.
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
Global Constitutionalism early view: Kennedy and Pek on "Deliberative constitutionalism in non-state contexts: Deliberation to, from and through constitutional reform." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
On Trump's mad, dangerous gibberish and the sycophants surrounding him:
"All of this is prattle. It is not even wrong, for to rise to the level of wrongness it would have to posit some relationship between words and realities."
BBC News leading all its bulletins on demands by former Government advisor Lord Robertson for more defence spending, without at any point mentioning his current paid senior role for US defence lobbyists
Fair point!
This sort of thing drives me nuts. The 'added value of deliberation' of the title is misleading: this paper is much more narrowly focused on the added value of mini-publics. link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I regard the Iranian regime as a clerical tyranny. Would you really send two estate agents and a high school debater to negotiate with them?
An absolute charlatan.
"In a completely-not-interfering-with-the-vote-tone-at-all, he tells the Hungarian voters they should ..."
Vance praises Orbán and accuses EU of ‘foreign interference’ in upcoming Hungarian election
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
From Roger Scruton cafes to paying Matt Goodwin $10k a month, Viktor Orban has built a network of populist right think tanks, journalists and activists
Today Democracy for Sale delves into Orban’s allies on the British right
Well worth a read
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/orbans-brits
Wise thoughts brilliantly expressed by Archie Brown on political leadership in a democracy: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
I was surprised to learn that there is now a Journal of Sortition: www.imprint.co.uk/product/jos/. It's got an impressive editorial board and may well publish some good pieces. But it's pretty niche.
Ship of Fools, oil on panel, fragment of triptych, 1490-1500, by early Netherlandish artist Hieronymus Bosch. The Ship of Fools was an allegory of inept governance in Plato’s Republic and was further popularised by Sebastian Brant in his satire Das Narrenschiff 1494.
Musée du Louvre
#AprilFoolsDay
Countering disinformation with, erm, your own disinformation.🤔
John Dryzek's contribution here is one of the more challenging that I've read. I can't say I agree with all of its claims and implications, but definitely worth reading.
iai.tv/articles/jur...
AusJPS: Davy and Saunders on "Designing inclusive publics: systemic listening in disability support." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
AusJPS early view: Katz et al. on "Do women politicians face more interruptions? An analysis of interjections in the Australian parliamentary debates (1998-2025)." www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....
“A broadcaster has become the media arm of a political party, and nobody is doing anything about it.”
Really good to speak to @arusbridger.bsky.social about GB News, Reform and regulatory failure on Democracy for Sale today
democracyforsale.substack.com/p/gb-news-is...
www.change.org/p/request-fo...
This seems to be an issue of accountability. But, I suppose, if you don't know what you're doing, it's hard to set out the chains of reasoning on which your thinking rests.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
Not sure what to make of this one. It's more about Fraser than Habermas (if you get me), but the last paragraph does raise an important point.
"With the smoke of war and a total internet shutdown having closed over Iranian society since 28 February 2026, debate on this conflict is missing the voices of a group of its main stakeholders: the people of Iran"
From Ladan Boroumand
www.journalofdemocracy.org/online-exclu...
Hmm. Why do so many papers on deliberative mini-publics start with some blather to the effect that DMPs 'have gained attention for their potential to revitalize democracy'?
A bit like using a bicycle pump to try raise the Titanic. delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1...
Good question. Certainly not a recursive form of democracy in which public deliberation and the rule of law are intertwined.
Another grim read. www.ft.com/content/c4c1...
The democratic innovations movement (largely focused on deliberative mini-publics) has tended to assume a fairly robust democratic background against which improvements might be made. But under the kinds of conditions described in this article?
