James S. Fishkin

James S. Fishkin is a professor in the Department of Communication at Stanford University. Fishkin is a widely cited scholar on his work on Deliberative democracy. Along with Robert Luskin (no connection to Karl Rove's attorney of the same name), he has pioneered a model of polling called the Deliberative Poll.

Career

Fishkin received his BA degree and Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University. He holds a second Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cambridge University, United Kingdom.

Deliberative Poll

The Deliberative 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 vote after a day or more of deliberation. The decisions made by such arrangements have been alternatively used to elect candidates in primaries (Greece) or recommend policy decisions (China, Texas) etc.

More than 40 such deliberative polls have now taken place around the world including China, Greece, UK etc.

Publications

Books

Deliberative Democracy

* Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform (1991)
* The Dialogue of Justice: Toward a Self-Reflective Society (1992)
* The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (1995)
* Deliberation Day (Yale Press, 2004) (with Bruce Ackerman)
* Debating Deliberative Democracy (with Peter Laslett) (Blackwell Publishing Limited, 2003)

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)

Prominent Journal Papers

* Considered Opinions: Deliberative Polling in Britain (With RC Luskin, R Jowell) (British Journal of Political Science, 2002)
* Moral Reasoning and Political Ideology (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1973)
* Experimenting with a Democratic Ideal: Deliberative Polling and Public Opinion (with RC Luskin) (Acta Politica, 2005)
* Can Deliberation Induce Greater Preference Structuration? Evidence from Deliberative Opinion Polls (With C List, I McLean, R Luskin) (Proceedings of the American Political Science Association, 2000)
* The Quest for Deliberative Democracy (with RC Luskin) (The Good Society, 1999)

External links

* [http://communication.stanford.edu/faculty/fishkin.html Stanford Biography]
* [http://cdd.stanford.edu/ Center for Deliberative Democracy]
* [http://bostonreview.net/BR31.2/fishkin.html Boston Review article by Fishkin - Nation in a room]
* [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=6960 American Prospect article on Deliberation Day coauthored with Bruce Ackerman]

* [http://arp.unipi.it/dettaglioar.php?ide=110656 Luca Corchia, "Il sondaggio deliberativo di James S. Fishkin", in "THE LAB'S QUARTERLY/IL TRIMESTRALE DEL LABORATORIO", 1, 2007, ss. 20 ]