Cases

Summary

Before making the education policy adjustments which had become essential due to low pupil turnout, the Department of Education in Northern Ireland sought to pay attention to the views of the parents. The goal was to create the required new rules within an atmosphere of cooperation. To attain this cooperation, a deliberative poll was held in Omagh, Northern Ireland in January 2007. 565 randomly selected parents were polled and then invited to Omagh College for a day of deliberation. 127 participants were given briefing materials on education policy.

Australia's first Citizens' Parliament (also referred to as Australian Citizens' Parliament and ACP) was a large-scale three-day deliberation that took place in Canberra between randomly-selected citizens of Australia in February 2009. Organized by the new Democracy Foundation, the citizens were asked to address the question of how the Australian government could be strengthened to better serve the people. Their results, 13 proposals, were presented to the Australian Parliament. This event was meticulously recorded and provides an important vault of resources for future research.