Other Group

Democracy R&D

Website:

democracyrd.org/

Founded:

2018

Type:

Democracy Collaborative

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Democracy R&D (sometimes written as Democracy Research and Development) funds and organizes local conferences to discuss means of improving democracy and informing the public.

Democracy R&D has 95 individual and organizational members throughout the world. 1

History

Democracy R&D was founded in January 2018 in Madrid by 50 individuals from representing 15 nonprofits focused on democracy development. The meeting was coordinated by an executive of New Democracy, an Australian group that is currently one of the largest funders of Democracy R&D. 2 3 Representatives from the following organizations attended the meeting: Sortition Foundation, Participal Lab, Forum dos Cidadaos, Belgian G1000, Dutch G1000, MASS LBP, Missions Publiques, Particitiz, Japan Research Forum on Mini-Publics, Danish Board of Technology Foundation, Bertelsmann Stiftung Foundation, the ECI Campaign, Democracy in Practice, the Jefferson Center, Healthy Democracy, Empowering Participation, the Policy Jury Group, and the Nexus Institute. 4

Events

In coordination with local other organizations, Democracy R&D organizes conferences in which voters discuss national political issues and the democratic process. Democracy R&D claims to be non-partisan and chooses the attendees of its conferences through a randomized process to generate experimental data on public sentiment. 5

In September 2019, Democracy R&D ran a conference in Dallas, Texas with the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy that invited 523 random voters from across the United States to discuss issues in the 2020 election and the democratic process. The attendees were surveyed on a variety of topics before and after the conference, and their answers were compared to a control group of 844 voters who did not attend the conference. Democracy R&D found that support for extreme policy positions diminished after the conference, which it attributed to extensive discussions with political opponents. 6 7

Members

As of July 2022, Democracy R&D has 49 member organizations in North American, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia, including Healthy Democracy, the Center for New Democratic Processes, the Policy Jury Group, the Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy, the Democratic Society, We Do Democracy, Engage Britain, New Democracy, and the Innovation for Policy Foundation. Democracy R&D also has 46 individual members not affiliated with a particular organization. 8

In December 2020, Democracy R&D had 85 members. 9

Funding

Democracy R&D’s largest funders, all of whom give over $100,000 annually, have included New Democracy, the late Ned Crosby, 10 and his wife Pat Benn. New Democracy is a member of Democracy R&D based in Australia. Ned Crosby was the founder and former executive director of the Center for New Democratic Processes, and a co-founder of Healthy Democracy, another member of Democracy R&D. Pat Benn is a co-founder of Citizens Initiative Review. 11 12 13

Annually, Democracy R&D receives $500-$2,500 from Bertelsmann Stiftung, the Center for Deliberative Democracy, Consortium for Science, Policy, and Outcomes, the Danish Board of Technology Foundation, Demsoc, Involve, MASS LBP, Mehr Demokratie, Missions Publiques, the Nexus Institute, Particitiz, and the RSA. 14

The Open Society Foundation Initiative for Europe, a component of George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, donated $48,935 to Democracy R&D in 2020 to support the organization’s annual meeting in Manchester, United Kingdom. 15

References

  1.  “Support & Funding.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/funding/.
  2. “Support & Funding.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/funding/.
  3. Sayman, Volkan; Schritt, Jannik; Vob, Jan-Peter. “Politics at a distance: Infrastructure knowledge flows for democratic innovation.” Sage Journals. August 7, 2021. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03063127211033990.
  4. [1] Hennig, Brett. “Launch of International Sortition Network: Democracy R&D.” Equality by Lot. January 11, 2018. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://equalitybylot.com/2018/01/11/launch-of-international-sortition-network-democracy-rd/.
  5.  “Our Work.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/work/.
  6. “America in One Room.” Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://cdd.stanford.edu/2019/america-in-one-room/.
  7. “America in One Room Results.” Stanford Center for Deliberative Democracy. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://cdd.stanford.edu/2019/america-in-one-room-results/.
  8. “About.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/about/.
  9. Sayman, Volkan; Schritt, Jannik; Vob, Jan-Peter. “Politics at a distance: Infrastructure knowledge flows for democratic innovation.” Sage Journals. August 7, 2021. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03063127211033990.
  10. Bozentko, Kyle. “Announcement on the Death of Our Founder Ned Crosby.” Center for New Democratic Processes, August 20, 2022. https://www.cndp.us/announcement-on-the-death-of-our-founder-ned-crosby/.
  11. “Support & Funding.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/funding/.
  12. Sayman, Volkan; Schritt, Jannik; Vob, Jan-Peter. “Politics at a distance: Infrastructure knowledge flows for democratic innovation.” Sage Journals. August 7, 2021. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/03063127211033990.
  13. Hennig, Brett. “Launch of International Sortition Network: Democracy R&D.” Equality by Lot. January 11, 2018. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://equalitybylot.com/2018/01/11/launch-of-international-sortition-network-democracy-rd/.
  14. “Support & Funding.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/funding/.
  15. “Support & Funding.” Democracy R&D. Accessed July 22, 2022. https://democracyrd.org/funding/.
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