[Podcast] Deliberative democracy in North Macedonia

In this podcast, we discuss deliberative democracy and the method of deliberative polling with Alice Siu, Associate Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy. Deliberative Democracy is a unique form of political consultation that combines techniques of public opinion research and public deliberation to reveal what public opinion would be on a particular issue if citizens were given a chance to become more informed. Deliberative polling, as a method pioneered by Professor James Fishkin from Stanford University, has been implemented in various countries around the world, from China, Uganda, Japan, Texas to mention a few. I In the region of the Western Balkans this method was for the first time implemented in North Macedonia by the European Policy Institute in Skopje in cooperation with the Center for Deliberative Democracy from Stanford University in 2017. Now, EPI is preparing to organize and implement, the third National deliberative poll around spring 2022, where we will once again gather citizens from across the country to discuss important topics.

Alice Siu is an Associate Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy. She received her PhD from the Department of Communication at Stanford University, with a focus on political communication, deliberative democracy and public opinion. Her research interests in deliberative democracy include what happens inside deliberation, such as examining the effects of socio-economic class in deliberation, the quality of deliberation, and the quality of arguments in deliberation.