John Dryzek, University of Canberra – ‘Democracy in a Diabolical Soundscape’

Democracy in a Diabolical Soundscape

Democracy today faces deep and complex challenges, especially when it comes to political communication and the quality of public discourse. Dishonest and manipulative communication amplified by unscrupulous politicians and media pervades these diabolical times, enabling right-wing populism, extremism, truth denial, and authoritarianism to flourish. 

To tackle these issues, we need to encourage meaningful deliberative communication - creating spaces for reflective and constructive dialogue, repairing unhealthy public spheres while preserving healthier ones, and building discursive bridges across deep divides. Citizens who see through elite manipulations should be at the core of this response, especially if bad elite behavior is to be effectively constrained. 

Democratic activists and leaders, diverse interpersonal networks, resilient public spheres, deliberative innovations, and clever communication strategies all have vital roles to play in both defending and renewing democracy. Healthy discursive infrastructures can make democracies work again.

Biography

John Dryzek is Distinguished Professor and former Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow in the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra. Before moving to UC, he was Distinguished Professor of Political Science and ARC Federation Fellow at the Australian National University. 

He is former Head of the Political Science Departments at the University of Oregon and University of Melbourne, and of the Social and Political Theory Program at ANU. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy, and former editor of the Australian Journal of Political Science. 

Working in both political theory and empirical social science, he is best known for his contributions in the areas of democratic theory and practice and environmental politics. One of the instigators of the ‘deliberative turn’ in thinking about democracy, he has published eight books in this area with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Polity Press. 

His work in environmental politics and climate governance has yielded seven books with Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and Basil Blackwell. He has also worked on comparative studies of democratization, critical public policy analysis, and the history and philosophy of social science. His current research emphasizes global justice, governance in the Anthropocene, and confronting contemporary challenges to democracy.