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20 Minute Talk: How Can Deliberative Democracy Get a Grip?

About the Talk

One of the most exciting innovations within ‘practical democratic theory’ in recent years has been the emergence of deliberative democracy, as a theoretically refined ideal with by now some well-honed mechanisms for its implementation on a small scale.  Its greatest remaining challenge is to figure out some way to connect those highly controlled, small-scale deliberative exercises to the ‘main game’, politically. 

In his presentation, Goodin will sketch some limited and indirect ways in which deliberative democracy might get a grip on national politics, before going on to propose a more novel way in which such deliberative events might be used literally to make international law of a certain sort.

The twenty-minute presentation is followed by an open discussion.

About the Speaker

Professor Bob Goodin is one of the world’s leading political and social theorists. He took his D.Phil. in Politics at Oxford in 1975. He is Professor of Government at the University of Essex and Distinguished Professor jointly of Philosophy and of Social & Political Theory at the Australian National University.  He has published over a dozen books with the best university presses and was General Editor of the 11-volume series of Oxford Handbooks of Political Science for Oxford University Press. He is currently working on the Oxford Handbook of Public Accountability, together with NIAS Fellow Mark Bovens.

About 20 Minute Talks

The NIAS 20 Minute Talk is a series of short lectures organised by the Rector of the Institute. These talks are meant to appeal to interested parties from a wide range of backgrounds and are aimed to encourage closer contact within the (Dutch) academic world. The Talks are open for everyone to attend. If you are interested in joining the presentation, please send a message to communication@nias.knaw.nl

Wednesday 4 April 2012, 11.45 – 12.30, at the NIAS Lecture Room.