The field of deliberative civic engagement is rapidly growing around the world—but it remains highly fragmented. Motivated by the widely recognized need to pool the collective experience and knowledge of scholars, practitioners, and advocates, this book represents the first comprehensive assessment of deliberative civic engagement. Each chapter in the book addresses a broad, yet specific “big question” about deliberative civic engagement, and reviews both published and unpublished writings across disciplines, settings, locations, and processes to assess what we know, how we know it, and what we do not yet know.

Part I provides a broad overview of deliberative civic engagement, defining terms and examining the many organizations doing work related to deliberative civic engagement. Part II introduces the reader to process and design issues central to deliberative civic engagement, including questions about recruitment and participation, communication, inclusion and diversity, and the use of online tools. Part III examines issues integral to deliberative civic engagement, including questions about the impacts and outcomes of such processes for individuals, communities, and policy, and well as questions about the evaluation of such processes. Part IV concludes the book with two chapters.

This book examines and responds to critics' concerns about deliberative civic engagement. The other draws together the work in the previous sections, examining uncertainties and unresolved questions, and looks to the future, developing an agenda for the advancement of the practice and study of deliberative civic engagement.