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Since the introduction of multiparty politics in Malawi in 1994, grassroots communities have been engaged in dialogue on issues affecting democratic and national development processes in the country. This paper employs Martin Heidegger's hermeneutics and James Paul Gee's discourse analysis to examine community views regarding public deliberation as a form of political participation in Malawi. Heideggerian hermeneutics provides a foundation for Hans-Gorg Gadamer's principles of philosophical hermeneutics that are limited to historicism, non-authorial intention, and the fusion of horizons. This study adopted Heideggarian phenomenology of Dasein ("being there") as an interpretive framework to analyze interview text. This paper argues that the main issue for the grassroots communities in Malawi goes beyond democratic participation. Central to the interpretation of the communal dialogue is an understanding of the socio-cultural, economic and political atmosphere within which the Malawian grassroots social actors perform. As a way of understanding how citizens at the grassroots frame democratic participation in a volatile atmosphere, a study was conducted involving 30 citizens ranging from local villagers to government officials in select local councils in Malawi. This paper documents the analysis of citizen sentiments regarding some democratization problems facing local councils and their solutions. The study was guided by three main research questions: 1) What does civic participation mean for the citizens? 2) How do the citizens define social problems? 3) What needed to be done to facilitate effective participation by citizens?

Since the introduction of multiparty politics in Malawi in 1994, grassroots communities have been engaged in dialogue on issues affecting democratic and national development processes in the country. This paper employs Martin Heidegger's hermeneutics and James Paul Gee's discourse analysis to examine community views regarding public deliberation as a form of political participation in Malawi. Heideggerian hermeneutics provides a foundation for Hans-Gorg Gadamer's principles of philosophical hermeneutics that are limited to historicism, non-authorial intention, and the fusion of horizons. This study adopted Heideggarian phenomenology of Dasein ("being there") as an interpretive framework to analyze interview text. This paper argues that the main issue for the grassroots communities in Malawi goes beyond democratic participation. Central to the interpretation of the communal dialogue is an understanding of the socio-cultural, economic and political atmosphere within which the Malawian grassroots social actors perform. As a way of understanding how citizens at the grassroots frame democratic participation in a volatile atmosphere, a study was conducted involving 30 citizens ranging from local villagers to government officials in select local councils in Malawi. This paper documents the analysis of citizen sentiments regarding some democratization problems facing local councils and their solutions. The study was guided by three main research questions: 1) What does civic participation mean for the citizens? 2) How do the citizens define social problems? 3) What needed to be done to facilitate effective participation by citizens?

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- List of Illustrations -- List of Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Part I: Deliberative Design and Innovation -- Introduction -- 1 Origins of the First Citizens' Parliament -- 2 Putting Citizens in Charge: Comparing the Australian Citizens' Parliament and the Australia 2020 Summit -- 3 Choose Me: The Challenges of National Random Selection -- 4 Grafting an Online Parliament onto a Face-to-Face Process -- Part II: Exploring Deliberation -- Introduction -- 5 Listening Carefully to the Citizens' Parliament: A Narrative Account -- 6 Deliberative Design and Storytelling in the Australian Citizens' Parliament -- 7 What Counts as Deliberation? Comparing Participant and Observer Ratings -- 8 Hearing All Sides? Soliciting and Managing Different Viewpoints in Deliberation -- 9 Sit Down and Speak Up: Stability and Change in Group Participation -- Part III: The Flow of Beliefs and Ideas -- Introduction -- 10 Changing Orientations Toward Australian Democracy -- 11 Staying Focused: Tracing the Flow of Ideas from the Online Parliament to Canberra -- 12 Evidence of Peer Influence in the Citizens' Parliament -- Part IV: Facilitation and Organizer Effects -- Introduction -- 13 The Unsung Heroes of a Deliberative Process: Reflections on the Role of Facilitators at the Citizens' Parliament -- 14 Are They Doing What They Are Supposed to Do? Assessing the Facilitating Process of the Australian Citizens' Parliament -- 15 Supporting the Citizen Parliamentarians: Mobilizing Perspectives and Informing Discussion -- 16 Investigation of (and Introspection on) Organizer Bias 218 -- Part V: Impacts and Reflections -- Introduction -- 17 Participant Accounts of Political Transformation -- 18 Becoming Australian: Forging a National Identity Through Deliberation -- 19 Mediated Meta-deliberation: Making Sense of the Australian Citizens' Parliament -- 20 How Not to Introduce Deliberative Democracy: The 2010 Citizens' Assembly on Climate Change Proposal -- Conclusion: Theoretical and Practical Implications of the Citizens' Parliament Experience -- List of Contributors -- Index