This 2012 report describes findings from National Issues Forums held in 2012 during which people deliberated about possible approaches to dealing with the national debt. Download the 33-page PDF here. After months of paralyzing partisan disagreement, the nation’s political system now is struggling to avert a fiscal calamity. President Obama and congressional leaders, spurred on by business leaders and a broad range of interest groups, speak of the need to find ways to act. But even amid these hopeful signs, Democrats and Republicans remain divided on nearly ... (continue)

This Policy Research Report (2013) from the World Bank analyzes community development and decentralization projects, showing that such projects often fail to be sensitive to complex contexts – including social, political, historical and geographical realities – and fall short in terms of monitoring and evaluation systems, which hampers learning. Citing numerous examples, including projects and programs supported by the World Bank, the authors demonstrate in this 300-page book that participatory projects are not a substitute for weak states, but instead require strong central support to ... (continue)

The National Issues Forums Institute encourages reporting from all their forums, and produces a variety of reports on NIF forums. As described on the  NIFI website, ”individuals and groups that convene forums, or series of forums, sometimes submit various kinds of reports about their forums including such things as what happened at the forums, and any outcomes that might have been identified from the deliberations.” Examples of these reports include… Forum on Immigration - Columbia, South Carolina Report from a forum on “Money and Politics” - Columbia, South Carolina by Herbert ... (continue)

This 1999 report by John Doble and Iara Peng of Doble Research Associates examined the inclusion and effectiveness of NIF material in high school classrooms. See more details on the NIF website. Four high school teachers who extensively use NIF in their classes partnered with Doble Research on this project. The teachers reviewed the research protocol and materials, described at length how they use NIF in their classrooms, recruited students to participate in the focus groups, made all arrangements for each session, acted as participant-observers at the sessions, joined ... (continue)

This 2004 report by Taylor Willingham provides an overview of the second New Dartmouth Conference, this one held in Russia, which examined U.S.-Russia Relations. See more details on the NIF website. From the report… The overwhelming common theme from both sides was that citizens make a clear distinction between the “human” aspect of the relationship and the political aspects – drawing a line between governments and people. Russians initially saw the relationship as the competence of the government, but shifted to an emphasis on citizen to citizen interactions after deliberating. ... (continue)

The Bangalore, India based conflict resolution consultancy, Meta-Culture, has released a paper titled The Importance of Language in Conflict Resolution in response to the Delhi Policy Group and Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue’s July publication Conflict Resolution: Learning Lessons from Dialogue Processes in India (pdf version & more publications), to draw lessons from current conflict resolution efforts that are relevant to policymakers and practitioners. The paper highlights the need for clear terminology and an appreciation of distinct conflict resolution modalities. They look forward to your feedback, which you can ... (continue)

Connecting the Deliberative Public To its Elected Representatives is a research report on A Public Voice 2005 by Philip D. Stewart. Find more details on the NIF website. From his conclusion… The real opportunity before us is to take advantage of the learnings from our research to date on what it takes for elected officials and policy influentials to come to the insight that a deliberative public has a useful, even essential contribution to make to policymaking.  I see two major learnings as relevant to embracing this opportunity more ... (continue)

This report by Jeffrey D. Greene provides an overview of the findings revealed in two workshops conducted by the Kettering Foundation that involved professional and civic organizations (more details on the NIF website).  In short, the central question that this report addresses is: What do we know about the use of deliberation in these organizations with respect to the way they interact with the public? From the report’s conclusion… One problem that is evident from the discussion is that the working concept of “civic engagement” or “engaging ... (continue)

This ten-page article titled Mr. Boyd Connects describes Representative Allen Boyd’s (D-Florida) experience with National Issues Forums and public deliberation. Boyd first took part in the taping of A Public Voice at the National Press Club in 2004 and then went on to organize similar events in every county in his district in Florida.  Mr. Boyd Connects was published by the Kettering Foundation in 2005. Find more details on the NIF website. More about National Issues Forums and their Reports on the Issues… The National Issues Forums ... (continue)

This report paints a picture of state legislators that may be at once familiar and new. It examines the role that legislators play in the context of today’s political scene. In some ways, legislators continue to work as they have in the past. But the environment has changed, and legislators across the country are responding to those changes by practicing politics differently. New roles are emerging for legislators as problem solvers, facilitators, and conveners. In short, legislators are learning that leadership is often about inspiring ... (continue)