Since 2016, Deliberation Gateway has been evolving a network of RSA Fellows, deliberative democracy practitioners, and guest speakers. With each conversation and connection, we spin threads into a web of relationships—strengthening, strand by strand, the case for deliberation in all contexts.

On Tuesday 30th September at 3Pm EDT,I invite you to a special gathering: part mini-reunion, part future-planning, and a trial of a new RSA Fellows format. Six Fellows will present their projects, and you’ll be able to join breakout sessions for deeper conversations. This is our chance to reconnect, exchange ideas, and chart where Deliberation Gateway goes next.

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Deliberation Gateway uses the RSA’s network to connect professionals across disciplines with the practice of structured public conversation. From pensions to chemical regulation, from finance to faith, we are exploring how deliberation can make an impact far beyond legislatures.
A single strand of spider silk may seem fragile. But woven together, these strands create one of the toughest materials in nature. Likewise, we believe that building a wide, interwoven network of deliberative processes—across industries, professions, and communities—will be strong and flexible; adequate to outlast the most rigid authoritarian structures.

To take part in one of our projects—or propose a new one—join us at one of our events or simply reach out.

Explore Our Library of Conversations

Deliberation & Technology
Deliberation & Non-Violence
Deliberation & Faith
Deliberation & Finance
Introduction to Deliberation

If you have a conversation idea for Deliberation Gateway, then join us at one of our events or simply reach out and let us know!

Current Projects

Deliberation & Pensions – Hosting satellite sessions at major financial conferences, inviting fiduciaries managing trillions of dollars to deploy citizen engagement to reimagine pension funds in terms of wellbeing and planetary responsibility.

Deliberation & Chemical Regulation – Early-stage work with deliberation experts and regulatory professionals to rethink the future of chemical governance in the UK.

Here at DG we are really excited to present this conversation that could not come at more timely moment. With many in the US seeking meaning and struggling to come to terms with what is happening, there is a great need for “something new” in the water.

Public deliberations among randomly chosen citizens hosted at schools, churches, town halls could go a long way to helping US citizen engage with one another to adapt and move into the new America that is being reborn.

The value of a well run delibration and its effect on people is discussed in this video with Manda Apte and Layne Hartsell in a far reaching conversation that taps in to the psyche of what it means to be a US citizen and, indeed to be a human.

The Deliberation Gateway Network proudly presents a series of events in direct response to Braver Angels’ Civic Renewal Challenge. Our 2024 mission is to champion deliberative democracy as the cornerstone of civic renewal that will help redefine the essence of US citizenship.

Join us as we connect diverse efforts to construct an unprecedented society – one where individuals are emotionally, intellectually, and technologically equipped to confront the complex challenges of our modern era. Our events merge the wisdom of established experts with the passion, love, and creativity of everyday US citizens, transcending political boundaries to illuminate a brighter future for our nation.

Current Series

• Technology and Deliberative Democracy

• Non-Violence and Deliberative Democracy

• Deliberative Financial Stewardship

• Government by Republic and Deliberative Democracy

• Elections and Deliberative Democracy

• Industry and Deliberative Democracy

•Science and Deliberative Democracy

Join us in advocating for a more enlightened, forward-thinking future. Deliberation Gateway is your portal to a year of civic renewal.

Chris Forman PhD FRSA

Darrell Bouldin FRSA

Deliberation Gateway Network Leads

Join the RSA’s Deliberation Gateway Network for an informal information session about how deliberative democracy can help governments and local councils solve community problems.

30 Mar 2023 | 3PM – 4PM PDT | 6PM – 7PM EDT

The Deliberation Gateway community hosts informal online discussions to connect individuals with real world problems to experienced Citizen Assembly practitioners. In the long run, through a series of informal conversations we hope to identify opportunities for future citizen assemblies. We foster an environment of learning and support for those who are aware of the myriad problems in the world and are looking for a way in which they can contribute locally in their own communities to fix the bigger problems that face us all.

Student protests aimed at defunding college/university police departments create a dichotomy for many administrations across the US. How can higher education institutions create safe environments for their communities, when the security system itself is considered a threat by those very people?

Long term, broad and deep participatory processes offer a potential route to finding a viable solution to this problem. However, such processes will only bear fruit if they are authentic and much more than lip service from administrative bodies designed to placate students.

Such participation processes must generate genuine transformation. Empowering entire communities to collectively re-imagine every aspect of their security infrastructure is a possible route to achieving such transformation successfully and peacefully. Whether we are talking about crime prevention—which can include improvements to support mental health services and creating employment or scholarship opportunities for local communities —all the way through to fire alarms and safe working practices in research laboratories, all of which may involve institutional police to some extent.

Deliberation Gateway is looking for expressions of interest from partners and/or participants to create a learning community for supporting the design of these kinds of complex participatory processes. We aim to nucleate a community that will meet periodically over the next year to help campus communities across the country explore participatory strategies specifically designed for US higher education to address this safety dichotomy.

We aim to provide a time efficient process in which participants will meet monthly and generate much of the content for each other. In the first instance we will explore the issue of safety and hear from participants what is happening in, and around, their campus communities. Thereafter, with support from the RSA, we will use our networks to find resources to support learning and exchange of best practice. We hope that institutions and individuals participating in our support community will gain a clear understanding of participatory processes that are truly effective. We will also offer long term follow up meetings to assess the outcome of any participatory processes that campuses employ.

Such participation is only likely to succeed on higher education campuses if it is long term. As a result these participatory processes could become permanent fixtures at universities, inculcating students and staff with a culture of participatory and deliberative values that could permeate into lectures as a useful learning mode, as well as into wider society as students and staff move through their universities into other commercial, academic, governmental and political organizations.

We would like to hear from any staff, faculty or student governments at any US institution that are interested in learning more about co-creating continuous participation exercises across their campuses aimed at developing local safety policies. Please contact the Deliberation Gateway directly to register interest. Please also sign up to our mailing list to get monthly updates and news from the DG community.”

A collaboration of deliberation organizations from around the world is hosting a series of online training seminars called “Unlocking Deliberation” to help individuals and groups learn how to bring the wide range of modern deliberative techniques to bear on the collective problems that confront them. The first webinar of the series “Why Deliberate?” is taking place on Sunday, August 9th 2020 at 8pm ET, (5 pm PT).

Sat 21st December 2019, 12h00 EDT, Register

The next discussion in our series will be about the role of experts in deliberations.

In a deliberation we select diverse members of the public to make a judgment on behalf of everyone else. But let’s face it: a random member of the public is unlikely to know anywhere near enough about a given topic to make an informed policy choice—even though they themselves may think otherwise—and, by extension, we may ask why would an assembly of the public fare any better? 

Similarly, we expect elected officials to know better than a random member of the public but why should that be the case? It’s clear that every public deliberation, whether comprised of elected or randomly picked members, needs experts to provide detailed and up to date information.

Who chooses which experts to invite?

How do we ensure a deliberation is not unduly biased?

How do we avoid the experts taking over and using the CA to openwash their own technocratic agenda?

Why would an expert bother to get out of bed? Are they being paid?

In this discussion we will have a look at the role of experts in deliberations. Register here

A joint salon with RSA-US on Thursday 21st November, 12h00 to 13h00 CT. Register

Fed up of politicians not listening? In theory, we live in a democracy and thus power ultimately resides with citizens. But—once the ballot box is safely tucked away—it’s not easy for citizens to influence law makers, especially when the powerful have different ideas, or close their doors. Deliberations, such as citizen’s assemblies and deliberative polls, could be a potential solution to hold the powerful to account between elections, or, more charitably, to help politicians engage with the public more effectively during their term of office. On Thursday 21st November, Deliberation Gateway will join forces with RSA-US to discuss effective strategies for citizen organized deliberations to engage the powerful to ensure the judgment of the deliberation is heard and, where appropriate, upheld.

Under what conditions do powerful people listen to others and act?

What steps can organizers of a deliberation take to ensure the output is heard, and upheld?

Just as a corporation or union has power and influence, can deliberations acquire power?

Is it necessary to have powerful people in a deliberation for it to have power?

Can deliberations affect the behavior of uncooperative but powerful individuals and groups?

Register