This article studies citizens' support for deliberative democracy in Belgium. It examines it, first, from the perspective of Belgian citizens in general. In a second step, it looks specifically at the attitudes of citizens from four disadvantaged groups (women, lower educated citizens, citizens with precarious job conditions and younger citizens). Regarding these groups we want to see whether they show different levels of support for deliberative democracy than the rest of the population and if their attitudes are driven by the same factors as for citizens from more advantaged groups. Regarding the general population, the main finding is that support for deliberative democracy is driven by negative attitudes towards elected politicians but mainly by positive attitudes regarding the political competence of fellow citizens. Regarding disadvantaged groups, we see first that women and younger citizens show higher levels of support than the rest of the population. Second, when it comes to the factors driving support for deliberative democracy within these disadvantaged groups, it appears that they are similar to the rest of the population except when it comes to political interest. Being more interested in politics is a determinant to be in favour of deliberative democracy for citizens from disadvantaged groups.

MPs face a dilemma when it comes to deliberative mini-publics (DMPs): in a context of distrust they may see it as an opportunity to re-legitimize themselves and solve complex policy issues. But it could also challenge the quasi-monopoly they used to have on political decisions and undermine the role of the Parliament and the primacy of elections. The article is founded on 91 face-to-face interviews with French-speaking Belgian MPs sitting in federal or regional parliaments. First, we describe the profile of supporters of DMPs. We then identify three ideal-typical discourses: the power-sharing discourse, the consultative discourse, and the elitist discourse. The contribution of this article is twofold. First, it analyzes the argumentative frames used by MPs to assess deliberative mini-publics using a large number of interviews.Second, it demonstrates that their discourses depend on their evaluation of ordinary citizens' competence to participate and on their resulting vision of representation. Political actors mainly perceive DMPs as power-sharing instruments that would alter their elected position and the legitimacy of the election.

40 Plus précisément, il s'agit des expériences ayant débuté entre 2001 et 2018 ; en effet, l'une d'entre elles a démarré en juin 2017 mais s'est terminée en décembre 2019. 41 Plus précisément, sont retenus les cas pour lesquels il a été procédé à un tirage au sort lors d'au moins une des étapes de la sélection des participants et pour lesquels au moins une des personnes tirées au sort s'est in fine effectivement présentée à l'événement délibératif. 42 Ces six cas sont les suivants : Meeting of Minds: A European Citizens' Deliberation on Brain Science (2005), Nos campagnes, demain en Europe (2006), Citizens' Perspectives on the Future of Europe (2007), European Citizens' Consultation in Belgium (2009), Citizen Visions on Science, Technology and Innovation (2009-2010) et Convention citoyenne sur la politique climatique et le sommet de la COP15 sur le climat (2009). Il est à noter dès à présent que, contrairement aux cinq autres, le mini-public Nos campagnes, demain en Europe ( 2006) sera considéré ici, non comme une initiative internationale ou européenne, mais comme une initiative régionale wallonne, bien qu'il ait constitué le volet régional en Belgique de l'European Citizens' Panel on the Future of Rural Areas in Europe (2006Europe ( -2007 et n'aurait pas eu lieu en dehors de la tenue de ce dernier. 43 Nous remercions Quentin Vanleeuw pour son aide lors des deux premières étapes de cette recherche. 147 Pour une analyse détaillée du support et de la perception des parlementaires concernant les instruments de démocratie participative et délibérative en Belgique francophone, cf. C.

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