Is Unbiased Democracy a Bubble? Dilemmas in Democratic Designing

Thursday June 14 5–7 PM
Tiedekulma, Fönsteri-space (Yliopistonkatu 4)

“Stuck between a rock and a hard place” often describes realities of democratic practices. In an inclusive democracy, political participation should be accessible to all citizens. Yet, numerous studies show persistent inequalities in participation in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, health, education, and income.

Many countries have tried to tackle these biases and increase voter turnout using various methods such as postal voting, absentee voting, assisted voting, and proxy ballots or making voting compulsory. However, these efforts easily end up mobilizing those groups that were more active to begin with.

The BIBU Talk on June 14 at 5–7 PM in Tiedekulma, Fönsteri-space (Yliopistonkatu 4) addresses the biases in political participation and dilemmas in democratic designing. Professor Catherine Bolzendahl (University of California, Irvine), Assistant Professor Ruth Dassonneville (Université de Montréal) and Dr. Peter Miller (University of California, Irvine) will discuss how to make democracy work asking:

•  How to promote equal democracy without simultaneously making unintended biases in participation?
•  Is equal democracy an ideal that seldom can be achieved in practice?
•  If some level of inequality is an unavoidable condition in democracy, how political system can still claim to be legitimate?

Please, register here and check out the Facebook-event here.

BIBU Talk is chaired by Academy Research Fellow Hanna Wass (University of Helsinki) who is directing a work package ”Mapping biases and bubbles in citizens’ participation” in the BIBU project.