Public deliberation as a key element of political life

When in the late 1990s Jürgen Habermas laid the foundations for what came to be called the "deliberative turn in democracy", what he was doing was trying to harmonise citizens' ability to reach agreements through shared norms with the establishment of a common democratic horizon based on the rational principles of equality, freedom and symmetry.

The possibility of citizens debating and influencing the aspects where politics governs their daily lives was not so evident until very recently, but today there are more and more experiences of participation that involve the voice of all those involved, thus configuring public deliberation as a key element of political life.

The Forum on Deliberation, Creativity and Democracy is conceived as an event where deliberative practitioners, government workers and the general public can hear first-hand the lessons learned from some of the participatory democratic innovations of the last two decades.

Divided into four days, anyone interested will be able to take part in the open activities, some of which require compulsory registration(Opens in new tab), to find out more about what deliberative democracy consists of and the forms it has taken so far: citizen assemblies and dialogues, participatory budgets, digital platforms for participation...

PROGRAM

👉 15 October from 9:20 to 13:30 - Aimed at local administration professionals, the Raons Públiques cooperative is organising the Deliberate in the local world (Opens in new tab)conference to disseminate good practices and discuss how to incorporate deliberative processes with citizens for decision-making on public policies in local contexts.

👉 15 and 16 October - Only for professional members of the network, red Delib organises its annual meeting(Opens in new tab): a day and a half to exchange experiences, doubts, knowledge, and establish a roadmap for the network.

👉 16 October at 18:00 - Platoniq presents the School of Creativity and Democracy(Opens in new tab) for anyone who wants to learn about some of the participation experiments that Platoniq has been carrying out in recent years, as well as the four formative axes of the School: facilitation, digital participation, research/documentation and communication/advocacy.

👉 October 17-18 - FIDE, in collaboration with Deliberativa, presents its Autumn School on Citizens' Assemblies (registration here(External link)), an opportunity to acquire practical skills and knowledge to get started in the world of deliberation.