James S. Fishkin (born 1948) is an American political scientist and communications scholar. He holds the Janet M. Peck Chair in International Communication in the Department of Communication at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, where he serves as a professor of communication and, by courtesy, political science. He also acts as the director of Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab. Fishkin is widely cited for his work on

deliberative democracy Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. Deliberative democracy seeks quality over quantity by limiting decision-makers to a smaller but more representative sample ...

, with his proposition of

Deliberative Polling A deliberative opinion poll, sometimes called a deliberative poll, is a form of opinion poll taken before and after significant deliberation. Professor James S. Fishkin of Stanford University first described the concept in 1988. The typical delib ...

in 1988 being particularly influential. Together with Robert Luskin, Fishkin's work has led to over 100 deliberative polls in 28 countries.

Career

Fishkin earned his BA and Ph.D. in political science from

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and his second Ph.D. in philosophy from King's College,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He currently leads the Deliberative Democracy Lab at

(formerly known as the Center for Deliberative Democracy). He has held numerous fellowships, including a

Guggenheim fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

, a fellowship at the

Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) is an interdisciplinary research institution at Stanford University designed to advance the frontiers of knowledge about human behavior and society, and contribute to the resoluti ...

at Stanford, a fellowship at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a visiting fellow commoner role at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

. Fishkin was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 2014.

Deliberative polling

The

deliberative opinion poll A deliberative opinion poll, sometimes called a deliberative poll, is a form of opinion poll taken before and after significant deliberation. Professor James S. Fishkin of Stanford University first described the concept in 1988. The typical deli ...

, a concept proposed by Fishkin, involves gathering a representative random sample of people to deliberate on a specific issue. Participants are provided with briefing materials, carefully designed to represent all viewpoints in a balanced manner. After a day or more of deliberation, they are asked to register their considered opinions. These decisions have been used in various contexts such as electing candidates in primaries (e.g., in Greece), recommending policy decisions (e.g., in China and Texas), among other applications. It also served as the foundation for "Power and the People," a

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

program on which Fishkin consulted, airing in the UK from 1994 to 1999.

Publications

Books

Deliberative democracy

* Laslett, Peter; Fishkin, James S. (Eds). ''Philosophy, Politics and Society, Sixth Series: Justice Between Age Groups and Generations''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992. * Fishkin, James S. ''Democracy and Deliberation: New Directions for Democratic Reform''. New Haven and London:

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 1991; paperback edition, 1993. * Fishkin, James S. ''The Dialogue of Justice: Toward a Self-Reflective Society''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1992; paperback edition, 1996. * Fishkin, James S. ''The Voice of the People: Public Opinion and Democracy''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995; expanded paperback edition, Fall 1997. * Laslett, Peter and James S. Fishkin. ''Debating Deliberative Democracy''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. * Ackerman, Bruce and James S. Fishkin. ''Deliberation Day''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2004. * Fishkin, James S. ''When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. Paperback edition, 2010. Japanese edition, 2010; Chinese edition, in press. * Fishkin, James S. ''Democracy When the People Are Thinking: Revitalizing Our Politics Through Public Deliberation.'' Oxford:

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 2018.

Political theory and philosophy

* Fishkin, James S. ''Tyranny and Legitimacy: A Critique of Political Theories''.

The Johns Hopkins University Press Johns Hopkins University Press (also referred to as JHU Press or JHUP) is the publishing division of Johns Hopkins University. It was founded in 1878 and is the oldest continuously running university press in the United States. The press publish ...

, 1979. * Fishkin, James S. ''Limits of Obligation''. Yale University Press, 1982. * Fishkin, James S. ''Justice, Equal Opportunity and the Family''. Yale University Press,1984. * Fishkin, James S. ''Beyond Subjective Morality: Ethical Reasoning and Political Philosophy''. Yale University Press, 1986. * Goodin, Robert E.; Fishkin, James S. (Eds). ''Population and Political Theory (PPAS - Philosophy, Politics & Society)''. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010.

Journal papers

* * Fishkin, James S.; List, Christian; McLean, Iain; Luskin, Robert (2002). ''Can deliberation induce greater preference structuration: evidence from deliberative opinion polls?'' Paper presented at the meeting of the

American Political Science Association The American Political Science Association (APSA) is a professional association of political scientists in the United States. Founded in 1903 in the Tilton Memorial Library (now Tilton Hall) of Tulane University in New Orleans, it publishes four ...

, Boston, 26 August – 1 September. * * * * * * * Fishkin, J., Mayega, R., Atuyambe, L., Tumuhamye, N., Ssentongo, J., Siu, A., & Bazeyo, W. (2017). Applying Deliberative Democracy in Africa: Uganda’s First Deliberative Polls. ''

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek language, Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin language, Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan language, Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. H ...

'', ''146''(3), 140-154. https://doi.org/10.1162/DAED_ a_00453 * Fishkin, J., & Zandanshatar, G. (2017, September 17)
Deliberative Polling for Constitutional Change in Mongolia: An Unprecedented Experiment.
''Constitution Net''. * Fishkin, J. (2018). Random Assemblies for Lawmaking? Prospects and Limits. '' Politics & Society'', ''46''(3), 359-379. https://doi.org/10.1177/0032329218789889 * Kim, N., Fishkin, J., & Luskin, R. (2018). Intergroup Contact in Deliberative Contexts: Evidence From Deliberative Polls. '' Journal of Communication'', ''68''(6), 1029-1051. https://doi.org/10.1093/joc/jqy056 * Fishkin, J. (2019). Response to Critics: Toward the Reform of Actually Existing Democracies. '' The Good Society'', ''27'', 190-210. https://doi.org/10.5325/goodsociety.27.1-2.0190 * Wang, R., Fishkin, J., & Luskin, R. (2020). Does Deliberation Increase Public-Spiritedness?. '' Social Science Quarterly'', ''101''(6), 2163-2182. https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12863 * Luskin, R., Sood, G., Fishkin, J. ., & Hahn, K. . (2021). Deliberative Distortions? Homogenization, Polarization, and Domination in Small Group Discussions. '' British Journal of Political Science'', (2022), 21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123421000168 * Fishkin, J., Siu, A., Diamond, L. ., & Bradburn, N. (2021). Is Deliberation an Antidote to Extreme Partisan Polarization? Reflections on “America in One Room”. ''

American Political Science Review The ''American Political Science Review'' (''APSR'') is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all areas of political science. It is an official journal of the American Political Science Association and is published on their behalf ...

'', ''115''(4), 1464-1481. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055421000642 * Fishkin, J. (2021). Deliberative Public Consultation via Deliberative Polling: Criteria and Methods. '' Hastings Cent. Rep.'', ''51''(52), S19-S24. https://doi.org/10.1002/hast.1316 * Sandefur, J., Birdsall, N., Fishkin, J., & Moyo, M. (2022). Deliberative Democracy and the Resource Curse: A Nationwide Experiment in Tanzania. '' World Politics'', ''74''(4), 564-609. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887122000090

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishkin, James S. 20th-century American political scientists 21st-century American political scientists American democracy activists Communication scholars Stanford University Department of Communication faculty Yale University alumni 1948 births Living people