An Experiment in Political Communication

The British Columbia Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform

Dados Bibliográficos

ID6234628
AutoresIan Ward (0000-0002-0566-1479), I M Ward (0000-0001-8398-4911, The University of Queensland, autor correspondente)
Ano2008
Volume43
Fascículo2
Páginas301-315
Data de publicação2008-06-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
EditoraInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10361140802035796
OpenAlexW2003082443
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas6
Referências citadas10

The British Columbian Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform comprised a representative group of 160 randomly selected voters who were empowered to review the Province's electoral system and to decide if change was needed. It first met in January 2004 and issued its final report in December of that year. The Assembly has since been hailed as a democratic invention and attracted worldwide interest as a remarkable experiment in deliberative democracy. Its Terms of Reference required that it consult British Columbians. It did so via a series of public hearings held across the Province, and by establishing a website to publicise its purpose and to obtain public input. Hence, the Citizens' Assembly provides a case study or natural experiment that permits the comparative assessment of two very different forms of political communication – one traditional and the other a form of ‘e-consultation’, relying on newer information and communications technology. Based on published sources, as well as interviews with former members of the Assembly, this paper investigates the public input the Assembly obtained, and considers whether ‘e-consultation’– as is often claimed – does allow citizens to genuinely contribute to the making of public policy. Notes 1I thank Cary Laing, Bob Westfall, Harley Nyen, Ray Jones, Gene Quan, Ken Nielsen, Edith Davidson, Wendy Bergerund, Mary Jarbek, Craig Henschell, Sheilla MacDermott and Frankie Kirby for agreeing to share their experience as Assembly members. All were interviewed for this study in late March or early April 2006. 2The data used here are from a series of surveys of Assembly members conducted during 2004 by R.K. Carty, A. Blais and P. Fournier for their British Columbia Citizens' Assembly Study, and are used with permission. They are drawn from Wave 3 (Q.4) and Wave 7 (Q. o2). Additional informationNotes on contributorsIan Ward Ian Ward is a Reader in Politics at the University of Queensland, where he teaches courses in Australian politics and political communication

Democracy · Electoral reform · Electoral system · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · E-Government and Public Services · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Public Administration · Social Media and Politics