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James S. Fishkin, PhD

  • Janet M. Peck Professor of International Communication
  • Professor of Political Science (by courtesy)
  • Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Director, Deliberative Democracy Lab

Encina Hall, E102
616 Jane Stanford Way
Stanford, CA 94305

(650) 723-4611 (voice)

Biography

James S. Fishkin holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication at Stanford University, where he is a Professor of Communication and Professor of Political Science (by courtesy). He is also Director of the Deliberative Democracy Lab at CDDRL (formerly the Center for Deliberative Democracy).

He is the author of a number of books, including Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform (Yale University Press, 1991), The Dialogue of Justice (Yale University Press, 1992 ), The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy (Yale University Press 1995). With Bruce Ackerman, he is the co-author of Deliberation Day (Yale University Press, 2004). And more recently, When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation (Oxford University Press, 2009 and Democracy When the People Are Thinking (Oxford University Press, 2018).

He is best known for developing Deliberative Polling® — a practice of public consultation that employs random samples of the citizenry to explore how opinions would change if they were more informed. Professor Fishkin and his collaborators have conducted Deliberative Polls in the US, Britain, Australia, Denmark, Bulgaria, China, Greece, Mongolia, Uganda, Tanzania, Brazil,  and other countries.

Fishkin has been a Visiting Fellow Commoner at Trinity College, Cambridge, as well as a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Fishkin received his B.A. from Yale in 1970 and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale as well as a second Ph.D. in Philosophy from Cambridge.

publications

Books
July 2018

Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation

Author(s)
Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation
Journal Articles
July 2021

Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on “America in One Room”

Author(s)
Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on “America in One Room”
Books
September 2009

When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation

Author(s)
When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation

In The News

2023 Nobel Prize Summit
News

Deliberative Democracy Lab to Demonstrate Deliberative Polling® Method at the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit

On May 25, CDDRL’s Deliberative Democracy Lab (DDL), in partnership with the Nobel Prize Summit, will run an exercise in large-scale group deliberation on the subject of online misinformation and polarization and what to do about it. This demonstration will help develop the capacity to democratically vet policy proposals concerning the information landscape.
Deliberative Democracy Lab to Demonstrate Deliberative Polling® Method at the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit
California Considers
News

California 100 Announces Results of New "California Considers" Deliberative Poll® Examining Long-Term Policy Solutions for California

Conducted in partnership with CDDRL's Deliberative Democracy Lab and the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy, key findings show strong support for the state to provide universal mental healthcare, institute a strengthened high school civics course, develop a “one-stop-shop” for easier access to government programs, reform for the state’s CEQA law, and increase its support for K-12 education, among others.
California 100 Announces Results of New "California Considers" Deliberative Poll® Examining Long-Term Policy Solutions for California
Participants of the America in One Room national Deliberation Poll in Dallas, TX, 2019
News

Reforming Our Public Dialogue: New Deliberative Democracy Lab Joins CDDRL

The Deliberative Democracy Lab (formerly the Center for Deliberative Democracy) is devoted to research about democracy and public opinion obtained through Deliberative Polling® and related democratic processes.
Reforming Our Public Dialogue: New Deliberative Democracy Lab Joins CDDRL
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