Monarchy has been the predominant form of governance throughout recorded history, and its hegemony extended well into the twentieth century. On the eve of World War I, only four nations in Europe, and none of any consequence (France, Portugal, San Marino, and Switzerland), were not monarchies. Today, however, democracy reigns, and monarchs are widely seen, in the words of the American writer Austin O'Malley, as “a vermiform appendix: useless when quiet; when obtrusive, in danger of removal” (quoted in Esar 1962, 140), or even as the capstone of a sinister conspiracy. “The Royal Family stands at the pinnacle of the class system, and its wealth is linked to the creation of poverty and need,” charges British Marxist Mark Kirby (1998, 37). For antimonarchists, the crown is not only a symbol but also a source of centuries-old class domination, social injustice, and imperialism, a wasteful frippery at best (Came 1998) and a malignant atavism at worst (Nairn 1994).

Thus, the forces of blond egalitarianism have humbled the Nordic royalty by replacing their horse-drawn carriages with bicycles, and the British have reduced their nobility to guiding hordes of T-shirted, gumsnapping American tourists through their ancestral homes in order to make ends meet. In Australia, “progressive” forces have succeeded in scheduling a referendum in 1999 on whether the current head of state, Queen Elizabeth, should be replaced by an illustrious Australian—if one can be found.

Though an endangered species, monarchs are by no means extinct.

Public Deliberation Methodology (PDM) developed from activities sponsored by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation, which engages in research to enhance the practice of politics. Politics, generally understood, encompasses public activities that help create the kind of communities, the kind of country, and the kind of world order where people are interested and involved in governing and strengthening civil society.

PDM establishes an environment for interaction and exchange of ideas about improving the quality of political participation. Deliberative issues forums, which are the center-piece of PDM, are designed to help citizens act on common problems after making joint decisions. The forums employ a particular kind of discourse called “deliberation” or “deliberative dialogue.” Deliberation prompts collective cognitive reasoning by discouraging self-centered thinking and encouraging the reaching of shared and reflective judgments.

By engaging in deliberative dialogue, participants move beyond the limits of partisan politics and the simple airing of grievances. In a deliberative issues forum, people come together to talk through specific issues with the help of a moderator and an issue-specific guide. The guide presents options for resolving selected issues and outlines the pros and cons of each course of action in terms of its personal value. The tension created by being made to choose one of many viable options leads to deliberation and civic learning.

In this article we describe a PDM experiment sponsored by the political science department of Moscow State Pedagogical University and the Foundation for the Development of Civic Culture.