The ICSC member list includes non-governmental organizations, university departments, foundations, journals from the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Kosovo/FRY, Germany, Honduras, Hungary, Jamaica, Jordan, Lebanon, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Palestine, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, USA, Venezuela, Yemen and Yugoslavia.

       After the enthusiasm over elections and the introduction of new democratic regimes in many countries, people in emerging democracies are realizing that these mechanisms are not enough for nation-building. In other parts of the world, citizens have just started to assume responsibility for their public life. Citizens are realizing that they cannot have democratic governments without citizens' participation and that citizens have to be joined with other citizens in civil societies. Building a society of citizens cannot be approached in the same way you teach people how to hold elections. The key actor is a citizen who recognizes and assumes the responsibility for what happens in public life. This realization must be indigenous. Outside consultants can neither provide such a realization nor teach it in seminars. These conditions have led to the creation of organizations in a number of countries to strengthen their civil societies.

       Since 1991, initially under the coordination of the U.S.-based Kettering Foundation, a number of these organizations have met together and exchange information and experience, and build common approaches to the challenges they face. These organizations have then created a formal Consortium to institutionalize and develop this cooperation. The International Civil Society Consortium is an international nonprofit network grouping a number of civic organizations from Europe, Asia, the Middle East, the Americas, and Africa. Their main aim is to enhance international cooperation in promoting responsible, democratic, and widely participatory deliberation over public issues around the world. The Consortium believes that such deliberation is essential for the reinforcement of democratic progress, and welcomes the inclusion of other organizations in this nascent international Consortium.

       The members of the Consortium share a common methodology, public deliberation. Each organization uses this methodology to:

       • strengthen the capacity of civic organizations in each participating country;
       • analyze policy issues from a variety of expert and public perspectives;
       • prepare balanced, accessible discussion guides about national and local issues;
       • lead public forums and study circles using their own discussion guides;
       • train others in the skills of leading forums and study circles;
       • train others in creating strategies to identify issues of public concern;
       • build and sustain a heterogeneous network of discussion groups;
       • promote the use of public deliberation in the classroom as a means of civic education.

       The goal of deliberative issues forums is to help citizens act on common problems by making shared decisions.

       These forum deliberations don't elect anyone to office, and they don't advance any special interests. Yet they do have a political effect of the most basic kind. They create a public; they turn private individuals into public citizens; they help set directions for governments, and they build a common ground of shared purposes for public action. Without such a reservoir of public will, fledgling democracies will not survive the long-term vagaries of economic distress, ethnic conflicts, and domestic upheavals.

       The Consortium as a whole participates in an international exchange to learn from one another, and to strengthen democratic practice by enriching democratic thought.

       Organizations that wish to begin programs based on or related to the public deliberative methodology are welcome to become members of the Consortium: please contact Ileana Marin using our feed-back form, for further details.

   Visitors:  19850

Copyright 2004 ICSC - All rights reserved - Designed by Impromex ltd.