Scaling Up? Unpacking the Effect of Deliberative Mini-Publics on Legitimacy Perceptions

Abstract

Deliberative mini-publics are increasingly used to try to tackle public discontent with the functioning of democracy. However, the ability of mini-publics to increase perceptions of legitimate decision-making among citizens at large remains unclear, given especially that existing studies have not considered the potentially damaging effects of mini-public recommendations not being followed. We designed, pre-registered, and ran a survey experiment in Ireland to test the effects of mini-publics on legitimacy perceptions conditional on whether or not their non-binding policy recommendations are honored ( N = 1309). We find that mini-publics increase legitimacy perceptions among the broader citizenry; however, these beneficial effects are largely limited to situations in which their recommendations are honored. Additional results suggest that it makes no difference whether mini-public recommendations are overturned by elected representatives or by citizens in a referendum. Finally, we find that the legitimacy-enhancing effects of participatory processes are driven by citizens with low political trust.

The Politics of Non‐Existence

“…While there is a need for further empirical studies on this topic, there is already some empirical evidence that mini-publics can enhance the perceived legitimacy of unfavorable decisions (e.g., Germann et al, 2022).…”

The minipublic bubble: how the contributions of minipublics are conceived in Belgium (2001–2021)

“…The literature has devoted increasingly more attention to the public perceptions of minipublics. For instance, several empirical studies investigate the support of the broader population for the concept of minipublics in general (e.g., Pilet et al, 2020;Germann et al, 2021) and for specific instances (e.g., Devillers et al, 2021;Pow, 2021). Scholars also survey how decision-and policymakers conceive the functions of minipublics (Beswick and Elstub, 2019;Bobbio, 2019;Rangoni et al, 2021) and participatory processes (Dean, 2019;Hendriks and Lees-Marshment, 2019), their support for minipublics (Jacquet et al, 2020;Koskimaa and Rapeli, 2020) and their motivations to institutionalize them (Macq and Jacquet, 2021).…”

Deliberative Mini-Publics as a Democratic Alternative: The Normative Desirability, Technical Feasibility, and Political Viability of Sortition

“…Ultimately, the political viability of these kinds of democratic reforms depends on the degree of legitimacy with which they are perceived by both institutions and civil society (Dryzek 2010;Buchstein & Hein 2009;Font & Blanco 2007). Policymakers' perception of legitimacy is crucial since they usually initiate these deliberative processes (Koskimaa & Rapeli 2020) and ultimately honor their outcomes, which is a key factor for mini-publics to generate legitimacy in the decision-making process (Germann et al 2022). On the other hand, citizens' perception of legitimacy is also vital, as they are potential participants and those who ultimately scrutinize the results and accept them as legitimate.…”

“…Studies analyzing the citizens' perspective suggest that support for mini-publics is contingent upon the perception of similarity with participants (Pow et al 2020), connection to representative institutions, and trust in citizen competencies (Bedock & Pilet 2021). Furthermore, disaffection and polarization (van Dijk et al 2023;Goldberg & Bächtiger 2023;Walsh & Elkink 2021), and the assurance that results will be honored by politicians (Germann et al 2022) also play a role in determining citizen support. Mini-publics are perceived as legitimate when citizens feel similar to the participants, as descriptive representation (similar profiles) is believed to facilitate substantive representation (similar interests).…”