Linking mini-publics to the deliberative system: a research agenda

Abstract

The systemic turn in deliberative democratic theory has shifted the focus away from seeking to design separate, internally deliberative 'minipublics' and towards a new appreciation of their external, systemic quality. Yet, so far, such accounts have not gone beyond recognising a potential for mini-publics to contribute to deliberative systems. In this paper, we argue that a systemic conceptualisation of mini-publics must recognise their fundamentally ambivalent character: Since mini-publics have the potential both to foster and to undermine systemic deliberation, it is insufficient to celebrate their positive potential alone, and vital to develop frameworks that allow for a critical evaluation of minipublics' systemic role. To this end, we propose a framework based on the systemic qualities of deliberationmaking, legitimacy-seeking and capacity-building, and conclude that key to mini-publics' quality, when judged against these criteria, is not just their own features, but the degree of 'co-development' of all system components.

What can deliberative mini‐publics contribute to democratic systems?

“…; Niemeyer ; Parkinson ). Although deliberative mini‐publics might, in principle, foster or undermine deliberation in the broader public sphere depending on their quality and their encompassing systems (Curato & Böker ), evidence suggests that they tend to enhance deliberative quality and make important contributions to deliberative systems (Bächtiger et al. ; Warren & Gastil ; Blais et al.…”

“…But the enthusiasm is not unanimous. Curato and Böker (: 174) warn that deliberative mini‐publics often vary widely in their quality, making it risky to generalise about their contributions to a political systems’ ‘deliberative capacity’. Others go further, arguing that mini‐publics can actually undermine a polity's deliberative capacities.…”

“…These kinds of questions about the roles of deliberative mini‐publics in representative democracies suggest that we need a more closely theorised approach. While most studies of mini‐publics focus on the internal deliberative quality of such forums (MacMillan ; Smith ), or the ways in which they contribute to the deliberative capacities of ‘deliberative systems’ (Curato & Böker ; Mansbridge et al. ; Niemeyer ), we adopt a problem‐based approach to democratic theory to frame our broader inquiry into how mini‐publics might contribute to the democratic qualities of representative political systems (Warren ).…”

¿Democratiza el sorteo la democracia? Cómo la democracia deliberativa ha despolitizado una propuesta radical

“…Algunos llegarán incluso a considerar a los mini-públicos como "el método más avanzado para institucionalizar la democracia deliberativa" (Estlub, 2014, 166). El auge de la deliberación en pequeños grupos sorteados ha sido tal, después de dos décadas, que podría tenerse la impresión de que los mini-públicos son la democracia deliberativa (para una perspectiva crítica véase Parkinson, 2006y Curato, 2016.…”

Participation in citizens’ summits and public engagement

“…Michels and De Graaf, 2010), these are obviously self-reported perceptions that do not automatically lead to actual active behaviour. This relates to an emerging literature on scaling up mini-publics, central to which is the notion that it is vital for mini-publics to have an impact outside the mini-public, in the broader public sphere (Curato and Bo¨ker, 2016;Niemeyer 2014). Niemeyer (2014: 194) argues that widespread participation in mini-publics can have a long-term effect in improving the civic skills of the participants.…”