Political Communication and Deliberation

John Gastil is a Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Washington, where he specializes in political deliberation and group decision making. Prior to joining the University of Washington in 1998, Gastil received his communication Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1994 and worked for three years at the University of New Mexico Institute for Public Policy.In 1993, Gastil published Democracy in Small Groups (New Society Publishers), and he continued to explore democracy and deliberation at many levels of analysis in By Popular Demand: Revitalizing Representative Democracy through Deliberative Elections (University of California, 2000), The Deliberative Democracy Handbook: Strategies for Effective Civic Engagement in the Twenty-First Century (co-edited with Peter Levine, Jossey-Bass, 2005), and Political Communication and Deliberation (Sage, 2008).The National Science Foundation has supported three large-scale research programs in which Gastil has served as a principal investigator. The Jury and Democracy Project rediscovered the jury system as a valuable civic educational institution. Gastil has also contributed to the Cultural Cognition Project, which explores the cultural underpinnings of attitudes toward various public policy issues. Most recently, Gastil has worked with Australian colleagues to study the flow of ideas and arguments through the Citizens’ Parliament held in Canberra in 2009. Gastil’s scholarly articles from these and other projects have appeared in Adult Education Quarterly, Communication Theory, Harvard Law Review, Human Communication Research, Human Relations, Journal of Applied Social Psychology, Journal of Communication, Journal of Public Deliberation, Political Communication, Small Group Research, and other academic journals.

"Political Communication and Deliberation is a groundbreaking volume. It advances our theorizing about deliberation, analyzes deliberative practices in a wide range of venues, and offers prescriptions for improving our democracy."

• 1. Democracy and DeliberationThree Criteria for the Democratic ProcessHow Deliberation Makes Democracy Work2. Conversation and DiscussionHistorical Notes on Political ChatterImagining a Deliberative ConversationInformal ConversationMoving from Conversation to DiscussionDialogue and Deliberation3. Mediated Deliberation and Public OpinionExpressing Ourselves Through the AgesWhat Is Mediated Deliberation?Do We Have a Deliberative Media SystemBroadcasting (and Shaping) the Public’s VoiceVisions of a More Deliberative Media4. Deliberative ElectionsThe Golden Days of ElectionsA Deliberative Electoral Process and the Deliberative VoterThe Modern Electoral SystemThe Deliberative VoterDeliberative Electoral Reforms5. How Government DeliberatesA Foundational Moment in Deliberative HistoryWhat Would a Deliberative Legislature Look Like?Legislative DeliberationDeliberation and the Executive BranchJudicial Deliberation6. Deliberation in the Jury RoomLegitimacy and the Origins of the Jury SystemDefining High-Quality Jury DeliberationJury Deliberation and DecisionsConnecting Jury Service and Civic LifeMaking Juries More Deliberative7. Citizens and Officials in Public MeetingsArchetypal Public MeetingsConvening a Deliberative Public MeetingThe Default Process: A Public HearingDeliberative Meetings with Elected OfficialsCitizen-Centered Public Meetings8. Deliberative Communities and SocietiesOld-School Deliberation in Historic Social MovementsVisiting a Deliberative CommunitySocietal AnalysisInstitutional InfrastructureActively Creating Deliberative Society9. International DeliberationFrom the League of Nations to the European UnionConceptualizing International DeliberationIs a Global Constitution Possible?A Global Public Sphere and Discursive Designs10. Toward a Deliberative DemocracyPutting the Pieces TogetherTaking ActionReferencesIndexAbout the Author