James S. Fishkin (born 1948) holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication in the Department of Communication at
Stanford University, where he is professor of communication and (by courtesy) professor of political science. He is also director of Stanford’s Center for Deliberative Democracy. Fishkin is a widely cited scholar on his work on
deliberative democracy. As a way of applying this concept he proposed
Deliberative Polling
A deliberative opinion poll, sometimes called a deliberative poll, is a form of opinion poll that incorporates the principles of deliberative democracy. Professor James S. Fishkin of Stanford University first described the concept in 1988.
The typi ...
in 1988. Along with Robert Luskin (no connection to Karl Rove's attorney of the same name), he has collaborated on applications of Deliberative Polling in 21 countries.
Career
Fishkin received his BA degree and Ph.D. in political science from
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
. He then studied at King's College,
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
, where he took a second Ph.D in philosophy. He is the current director of Stanford's Center for Deliberative Democracy. He has been a Guggenheim fellow, a fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a visiting fellow commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 2014 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Deliberative Poll
The
deliberative opinion poll takes a representative random sample of the people and brings the people together at a place to deliberate about an issue. The people are provided briefing materials which are made in concert with all interested parties and done in a way so as to represent each position in a balanced way. The people are asked to register their considered opinions after a day or more of deliberation. Taken as a vote, the decisions made by such arrangements have been alternatively used to elect candidates in primaries (Greece) or recommend policy decisions (China, Texas) etc. It was the basis of the "Power and the People", a
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
program on which Fishkin was a consultant that aired in the UK (1994–1999).
More than 70 such deliberative polls have taken place around the world, including: Argentina, Canada, Brazil, the United States, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Northern Ireland, Poland, Croatia, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Australia
References
Further reading
Books
;Deliberative democracy
* Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform (New Haven and London:
Yale University Press
Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous.
, Yale Universi ...
, 1991; paperback edition, 1993).
* Philosophy, Politics and Society, Sixth Series: Justice Between Age Groups and Generations
o-edited_with_Peter_Laslett.html" ;"title="Peter_Laslett.html" ;"title="o-edited with Peter Laslett">o-edited with Peter Laslett">Peter_Laslett.html" ;"title="o-edited with Peter Laslett">o-edited with Peter Laslett (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992).
* The Dialogue of Justice: Toward a Self-Reflective Society (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992; paperback edition, 1996).
* The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995; expanded paperback edition, Fall 1997).
* Debating Deliberative Democracy (with Peter Laslett) (Oxford: Blackwell, 2003).
* Deliberation Day (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004). (with Bruce Ackerman)
* When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009). Paperback edition, 2010. Japanese edition, 2010; Chinese edition, in press.
;Political theory and philosophy
* Tyranny and Legitimacy: A Critique of Political Theories (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979)
* Beyond Subjective Morality: Ethical Reasoning and Political Philosophy (Yale University Press, 1986)
* Limits of Obligation (Yale University Press, 1982)
* Justice, Equal Opportunity and the Family (Yale University Press,1984)
* Population and Political Theory (PPAS - Philosophy, Politics & Society)
o-edited with Robert E. Goodin(Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010)
;Journal papers
*
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* Fishkin, James S.; List, Christian; McLean, Iain; Luskin, Robert (2002). ''Can deliberation induce greater preference structuration: evidence from deliberative opinion polls?'' Paper presented at the meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, 26 August – 1 September.
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External links
Center for Deliberative Democracy
bostonreview.net
article on Deliberation Day coauthored with Bruce Ackerman
American Prospect
* Luca Corchia
''Il sondaggio deliberativo di James S. Fishkin''
i
Pisa, Dipartimento di Scienze Sociali, 1, 2007, ss. 20
* Luca Fezzi
La corda rossa: la democrazia ateniese e il Deliberative Polling di James S. Fishkin
COMUNICAZIONE POLITICA, 2008, 12 pp. p49-60
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishkin, James S.
Living people
1948 births
Stanford University Department of Communication faculty
Yale University alumni