Suchergebnisse

Signature pedagogies have been defined as "types of teaching that organize the fundamental ways in which future practitioners are educated for their profession" (Schulman, 2005: 3). Applying Schulman's definition of signature pedagogies to political science, this article notes that as an academic discipline it does not seek to train students for a specific profession. It also recognises that political science's signature pedagogy is similar to those traditionally associated with the social sciences and humanities: mass lectures, small tutorials and private study. In recent times newer pedagogies such as problem-based learning, experiential learning and service learning have been introduced in political science programmes to marry theory and practice and promote critical thinking and independent learning. This article focuses on one such approach, service learning, assessing the contribution it can make to teaching in political science with reference to an analysis of its effects in a postgraduate module on democratic civic education in University College Cork, Ireland. Adapted from the source document.

This article presents an experimental model for citizen deliberation that bridges the gap between developments in normative deliberative theory, and online participation and deliberation in practice. The Social Web for Inclusive and Transparent democracy (SOWIT) model is designed for integration into policy‐making processes. It is currently being developed in consultation with citizens, civil society organizations, and Councilors in an Irish local authority and will be implemented in 2014. Our approach is rooted in Dryzek and Niemeyer's (Dryzek and Niemeyer [2008]. American Political Science Review 102(4): 481–93) innovations in discursive representation and meta‐consensus as well as Bächtiger et al.'s (Bächtiger et al. [2010]. Journal of Political Philosophy 18: 32–63) sequential approach to deliberation. SOWIT pioneers a dynamic implementation of a meta‐consensus framework for structuring and incentivizing policy deliberations. In this article, we present the model, explain its normative rationale, and outline the experimental framework.

The Constitutional Convention was established by the Irish government in 2012. It was tasked with making recommendations on a number of constitutional reform proposals. As a mini-public, its membership was a mix of 66 citizens (randomly selected) and 33 politicians (self-selected). Its recommendations were debated on the floor of the Irish parliament with three of them leading to constitutional referendums; other recommendations are in the process of being implemented. This article uses data gathered during and after the operation of the Convention to examine this real-world example of a mixed-membership mini-public. The focus is on how the inclusion of politicians may have impacted on the Convention's mode of operation and/or its outcomes. We find little impact in terms of its operation (e.g. no evidence that politicians dominated the discussions). There is evidence of a slight liberal bias among the politician membership, but this had little effect on the outcomes.