[IntDPD Debate] "A political party of the area of "direct and participatory" democracy is a left/progressive or a right/conservative party?" (Answer 7/10) Iain Walker (www.newdemocracy.com.au) The newDemocracy Foundation (Australia)

"Or perhaps its all of the above [DD is Left or Right?]. We have found that elected representatives and governments will commission deliberative processes because of ideology: those on the Right see a group of individuals capable of making decisions rather than a paternalistic government, while those on the Left see everyday people taking power back from established and moneyed donor/lobbyist interests.  
Moreover most elected people on all sides hold a view that “if people could only see all the facts they would agree with our side of politics” – a good deliberative process delivers on the promise of seeing citizens consume a much greater depth of information than they do in today’s representative/vox pop democracy. It’s fair to note that we advocate deliberative processes rather than direct democracy though."