VOLUME 4 (2008), ISSUE 1, Essays	<Previous Essay     Next Essay>
Creating Democratic Surplus through Citizens' Assemblies Lyn Carson, University of Sydney SUGGESTED CITATION: Lyn Carson (2008) "Creating Democratic Surplus through Citizens' Assemblies," Journal of Public Deliberation: Vol. 4: No. 1, Article 5. http://services.bepress.com/jpd/vol4/iss1/art5	Download this article (152 K, PDF) Tell a Colleague Get Acrobat Reader Printing Tip: Select the option to 'print as image' in the Acrobat print dialog to ensure the article prints as it appears on screen. Learn more...
This paper, originally a presentation to the Sydney Democracy Forum, discusses how the current democratic deficit could be converted to a democratic surplus. In particular, attention is focused on an ambitious project which has recently commenced in Australia which will culminate in a grassroots citizens’ assembly. One hundred and fifty Australians will be randomly selected from each electorate and will participate in a range of deliberative environments (online and face-to-face), culminating in a four-day citizens’ parliament in Sydney. The project is jointly funded by an Australian Research Council-Linkage grant and a not-for-profit organisation, newDemocracy. During the entire process, typical Australians will consider ways in which Australia’s political system could be strengthened to better represent the will of the people.
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