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CAS 409 – Democratic Deliberation

Students Teaching Students

In coordination with an undergraduate-run organization called Students Teaching Students, CAS department faculty members mentor exemplary students who develop and teach 1-credit courses on a variety of subjects that advance expertise in communication and its role in public life. This semester, Associate Teaching Professor Lori Bedell is supporting undergraduates Kara Miller (who was in Lori’s RCL course a few years back) and Jess Strait as they teach a course titled “Period Talk: The Impact of Stigma on the Menstrual Equity Movement.”
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CAS 409 – Democratic Deliberation

Learning a better way to govern ourselves

A more deliberative democracy would require broader public participation in politics and government and more serious deliberation on the challenges we must face together. This course introduces recent theory and research on deliberation and sharpens students’ skills at a range of processes, including informal political conversation, public forums, jury deliberation, the interplay of media and elections, and deliberation within and between governments and nonprofit organizations.

Course Objectives

Students who take the course will develop: a clearer understanding how deliberative processes work; more skill at deliberating; the ability to recognize when contemporary practices fall short of the deliberative ideal; and fresh ideas for how to make our political process and our society more deliberative.