All posts in the topic debats participatifs (Short link)
Summary
- There are 3 posts — by 3 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Laurence Monnoyer-Smith at 2007 Feb 26 10:14 UTC
Hello do_consulties, I'm fascinated by Segolene Royale's election campaign, the socialist candidate for the French presidency. She heavily draws on "debats participatifs", both face-to-face and over the internet and has received a large public response: 135.000 discussion contributions on the net, 2.7 million participants, 6500 face-to-face meetings with 700.000 attendees. Explanation of her participatory method: http://www.desirsdavenir.org/index.php?c=mecanique translated into English: http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://www.desirsdavenir.org/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=1&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dhttp://www.desirsdavenir.org/%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D I would be very grateful if a French member of this list could comment on this! Does the French public perceive this as a new revolutionary method of policy making? Or is it deemed as a form of populism (as I read her rival Nicolas Sarkozy has claimed)? How does her rival Nicolas Sarkozy generally react to her participatory strategy? Can you observe an increased use of "dialogue speak" by him, or does he even engage himself in participatory formats? Will it help Segolene Royale to get elected? Or will this strategy backfire because her own political profile is watered down, i.e. it is not clear what her own standpoint is (as some media reports here in Germany suggest)? If Segolene Royale is elected, will deliberative democracy take a new step in France (and elsewhere), i.e. will it inspire a new political culture, with a better sense of deliberation processes? -- if yes, I need to brush-up my French so that I can learn more from the French experience ;-) best greetings,
Hello Mathias, Royal is not only a candidate, she has been also président of the région Poitou- Charente (west of France) for a few years. The internet site of the region (http://portail.poitou-charentes.fr/index.php) show her interest for ICT with lot of services like how to create a blog, a site ,a newsletter... The forum have only 10 members. It's the only bad point. Since 2005, all the high school of the region have given the possibility for their students to participate directly to the highschool life (http://www.democratie-participative.fr/bpl/index.dml). This action is the most representative of what she wants to do. I try to give you more informations soon about her campaign but maybe you can go in SecondLife and discuss directly with members of désirs d'avenir. She buyed a land 2 month ago in SL. Theire some english spokens in her team.
Hello Matthias,
Here is a couple of comments on your mail, but I am willing to get deeper into
this if you wish !
Does the French public perceive this as a new revolutionary method of policy
making? Or is it deemed as a form of populism (as I read her rival Nicolas
Sarkozy has claimed)?
Yes, it is perceived as quite revolutionary, although there is a discussion
about the method :
- wether it is a new communication tick or a real willing to transform
political practices. Many politicians, including her own party sarcastically
comments her way of organizing the debate as a communication tool with now real
content.
- The question of populism has not become a issue for her campaign but instead
it is the role of elected officials which is questioned : if the citizen are
doing their job, what is left for them ? In France we have a long tradition of
"strong" father-like President (think of De Gaulle) which is very patronizing
for citizen. Segolne completly change this relationship and many politicians
disagree with this new perspective : a president has to remain a "guide", not a
"follower". As you can see, our culture is still very far from being a
participative one.
How does her rival Nicolas Sarkozy generally react to her participatory
strategy? Can you observe an increased use of "dialogue speak" by him, or does
he even engage himself in participatory formats?
- Sarkozy has positioned himself as a "guide" in a very traditional way. His
"participative" strategy remains very limited to a couple of forums on his web
site. His own party doesn't "think" participation.
Will it help Segolene Royale to get elected? Or will this strategy backfire
because her own political profile is watered down, i.e. it is not clear what
her own standpoint is (as some media reports here in Germany suggest)?
Gosh ! I have no idea ! Surely, it has put in the public debate the question of
public participation in the decision-making process which is very new here. It
makes the presidential campaign very interesting because she has a very
alternative program on this matter, and very original. It has obliged every
candidate to position himself on this topic and has raised the question of how
to renew a "citizen pact" with elected officials. The crisis of representation
is now questioned and various solutions are proposed, participation is one of
them.
If Segolene Royale is elected, will deliberative democracy take a new step in
France (and elsewhere), i.e. will it inspire a new political culture, with a
better sense of deliberation processes? -- if yes, I need to brush-up my French
so that I can learn more from the French experience ;-)
Probably ! She has detailed this morning on the radio what would be the
processes she would implement at various level of the state : Regional :
citizen's jury ; Local : Local referendum (it already exists but never used
because of its no-compulsory dimension); National : Right of Petition; increase
of public debates within the frame of the National Commission for Public debate
etc.
Anyway, it will be good to work on your french so you can access all documents
!!!