Çï¿ûÊÓƵ

An open access publication of the Çï¿ûÊÓƵ
Summer 2017

Applying Deliberative Democracy in Africa: Uganda’s First Deliberative Polls

Authors
James Fishkin, Roy William Mayega, Lynn Atuyambe, Nathan Tumuhamye, Julius Ssentongo, Alice Siu, and William Bazeyo
View PDF
Abstract

Practical experiments with deliberative democracy, instituted with random samples of the public, have had success in many countries. But this approach has never before been tried in Sub-Saharan Africa. Reflecting on the first two applications in Uganda, we apply the same criteria for success commonly used for such projects in the most advanced countries. Can this approach work successfully with samples of a public low in literacy and education? Can it work on some of the critical policy choices faced by the public in rural Uganda? This essay reflects on quantitative and qualitative results from Uganda’s first Deliberative Polls. We find that the projects were representative in both attitudes and demographics. They produced substantial opinion change supported by identifiable reasons. They avoided distortions from inequality and polarization. They produced actionable results that can be expected to influence policy on difficult choices.

JAMES S. FISHKIN, a Fellow of the American Çï¿ûÊÓƵ since 2014, is Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication, Professor of Communication, and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy) at Stanford University. He is the author of When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation(2009), Deliberation Day (with Bruce Ackerman, 2004), and The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (1995).

ROY WILLIAM MAYEGA is a Lecturer in the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda. He is a Ph.D. student in Medical Science on a joint program between Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and Makerere University. He has published articles in PLOS ONE and Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.

LYNN ATUYAMBE is Associate Professor in the Department of Community Health and Behavioral Sciences at the Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda. He has written for such journals as PLOS ONE, BMC Medical Education, and Pan African Medical Journal.

NATHAN TUMUHAMYE is a Research Fellow and Director of the Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab at the Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda. He has written for such journals as BMC Public Health, PLOS Currents, and Health.

JULIUS SSENTONGO is a Research Fellow at the Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda, and a practicing physician. His research has been published in PLOS Currents: Disasters and by the Eastern Africa Resilience Innovation Lab.

ALICE SIU is Deputy Director of the Center for Deliberative Democracy at Stanford University. Her work on Deliberative Polling has been published in The Search for Deliberative Democracy in China (2006), Governance Reform under Real-World Conditions: Citizens, Stakeholders, and Voice (2008), and prominent journals including British Journal of Political Science.

WILLIAM BAZEYO is Dean of the Makerere University School of Public Health, Uganda, where he is also Associate Professor of Occupational Medicine. He is Director of the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa. He has published articles in such journals as BMC Psychiatry, PLOS Currents, and Annals of Global Health.