NCDD worked with the Kettering Foundation in 2012 to run a Summer Book Club (our first online book club!) on Kettering’s new book Democratizing Deliberation: A Political Theory Anthology.

See the chapter-by-chapter discussions: www.ncdd.org/tag/book-club

We used this page as a home base for the book club — which launched on Monday, June 11th, 2012, so our 150 book club members checked back here for updates, links to current chapter summaries, and more.

The book presents seven cutting-edge chapters by leading scholars in deliberative democracy. Edited by Derek Barker, Noelle McAfee, and David McIvor, the collection reframes deliberative democracy to be sensitive to the deep conflicts, multiple forms of communication, and aspirations for civic agency that characterize real public deliberation. In so doing, the book addresses many of the most common challenges to the theory and practice of deliberative democracy.

Sign up for the book club at www.ncdd.org/community/bookclub1-signup if you haven’t already.  And even if you aren’t an official book club member, we welcome you to participate in the discussions about each chapter on the NCDD Community blog — though you may want to buy the book!

Here is an outline of the book and its authors, along with the names of the chapter leaders who will be summarizing each chapter, and the dates we plan to post their summaries for discussion…

Democratizing Deliberation: A Political Theory Anthology

Foreward

by David Mathews

Introduction: Democratizing Deliberation

by editors Derek W. M. Barker, Noelle McAfee, and David W. McIvor

Chapter Leader for Foreward and Introduction:
Martin Carcasson, Director of the Colorado State University Center for Public Deliberation
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of June 11th)

First Section

Public Reason and Beyond: Broadening Concepts of Deliberation

Three Models of Democratic Deliberation

by Noelle McAfee

Chapter Leader:
Juli Fellows, Ph.D.
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of June 18th)

Rhetoric and Public Reasoning: An Aristotelian Understanding
of Political Deliberation

by Bernard Yack

Co-Chapter Leaders:
Sarah Read of The Communications Center, Inc.
Lucas Cioffi of AthenaBridge
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of June 25th)

Difference Democracy: The Consciousness-Raising Group Against the Gentlemen’s Club

by John S. Dryzek

Chapter Leader:
Kim Crowley of Training & Development Support
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of July 2nd)

Second Section

Deliberation in Complex Systems: Everyday Talk and
De-Centered Democracy

Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System

by Jane Mansbridge

Chapter Leader:
Christoph Berendes of Netalyst, Inc.
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of July 9th)

De-centering Deliberative Democracy

by Iris Marion Young

Chapter Leader:
Monique Pierel of Pierel Mediation & Facilitation
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of  July 16th)

Third Section

From Talk to Action: Democratic Practice and Public Work

Sustaining Public Engagement: Embedded Deliberation in Local Communities

by Elena Fagotto and Archon Fung

Chapter Leader:
Jan Inglis of Integrative Learning Institute
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – weeks of  July 23rd & July 30th)

Constructive Politics as Public Work: Organizing the Literature

by Harry C. Boyte

Chapter Leader:
Wendy Willis, Executive Director of the Policy Consensus Initiative
(Chapter Summary & Discussion – week of  August 6th & 13th)