From Wicked People to Wicked Problems: Building Local Capacity for Deliberative Engagement in the Era of Hyper-Partisanship

Opening comments from Dr. David Procter, Director of the Center for Engagement and Community Development (CECD) and Institute for Civic Discourse and Democracy (ICDD) highlighted the public need for dialogue, the diversity of presentations in the symposium, and the contributions of ICDD to promoting civic discourse at Kansas State University. Provost April Mason underscored the need to address polarization and the constructive contributions of K-State. Dr. Carcasson, Director of the Center for Public Deliberation at Colorado State University, presented a framework for addressing polarization through Deliberative Engagement. This framework invokes the “wicked problems” presumption, requires dealing with uncertainty, a focus on elevating conversations above winning arguments, and helping facilitate the negotiation of inherent tensions among approaches as well as developing a learning community.