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Bringing in the Public

  • Oldrich BubakEmail author
  • Henry Jacek
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Abstract

There are challenges and opportunities in “bringing the public” into governance. This chapter first explores what matters to people the most in governance, how they reason about politics, and how they prefer the system to work. Some of the people’s ideas may be closer to reality while others are far from it, yet without a substantive engagement, there is not much hope in leaving the vicious circle of reasoning. A manifold promise is found in managed deliberation. If given the opportunity and resources, ordinary people can make informed policy decisions, learn, and enhance their sense of civic efficacy. In such venues, the citizens begin to recognize the complexity of issues and the diversity of views and thus appreciate politics and their role in it.

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Copyright information

© The Author(s) 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Political ScienceMcMaster UniversityHamiltonCanada
  2. 2.Department of Political ScienceMcMaster UniversityHamiltonCanada

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