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

Germann, Micha; Mariën, Sofie; Muradova, Lala

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3954035

SSRN Journal

2021

DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.3954035

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

Micha Germann

Sofie Mariën

Lala Muradova

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Cited by 3 publications

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

Vrydagh

2023

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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Deliberative minipublics—participatory processes combining civic lottery with structured deliberation—are increasingly presented as a solution to address a series of problems. Whereas political theory has been prolific in conceiving their contributions, it remains unclear how the people organizing minipublics in practice view their purposes, and how these conceptions align with the theory. This paper conducts a thematic analysis of the reports of all the minipublics convened in Belgium between 2001 and 2021 (n = 51) to map whether and how justifications coincide with the theory. The analysis reveals an important gap: minipublics are in practice predominantly presented as contributions to policymaking, while more deliberative functions remain peripheral. Some common practical purposes also remain under-theorized, in particular their capacity to bridge the gap between citizens and politics. This desynchronization, combined with a plethora of desired outcomes associated with minipublics, indicates the creation of a minipublic bubble which inflates their capacity to solve problems.

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

Vrydagh

2023

Eur. Pol. Sci. Rev.

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Do the origins of climate assemblies shape public reactions? Examining the impact of partisanship

KEVINS,

ROBISON

2024

European J Political Res

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Governments around the world are experimenting with deliberative mini‐publics as a means of integrating public input into policymaking processes, including as a method for directly creating policy. This raises the important question of when ordinary people will judge the outputs of mini‐publics to be legitimate and support their use. We investigate how public support for mini‐publics is shaped by: (1) whether the mini‐public is held in response to calls from politicians or from the general public; (2) which political party sets up the mini‐public; and (3) whether there is partisan conflict surrounding the mini‐public's creation. To do so, we use two pre‐registered survey experiments fielded in the United Kingdom that focus on climate assemblies, a prominent form of deliberative mini‐public. Results are three‐fold. First, we find some evidence that assemblies are more positively evaluated when they stem from the demands of local residents rather than partisan actors, but this effect is relatively modest and does not emerge consistently across our analyses. Similar findings are noted with regard to partisanship. Partisan conflict, by contrast, has a more robust effect – leading respondents to adopt more ideologically stereotypical views of the assembly, with left‐wing (right‐wing) respondents being more supportive of Labour‐sponsored (Conservative‐sponsored) assemblies.

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The Politics of Non‐Existence

Setälä

2024

PaG

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This article argues that the representation of future generations is likely to remain inadequate because of the lack of accountability mechanisms characteristic of representative relations among contemporaries. Two problems pertaining to the representation of future generations and their interests are distinguished, namely misrepresentation and negligence. Misrepresentation refers to ill-informed, biased, and purposive interpretations regarding the interests of future generations, whereas negligence involves future interests not being properly considered in policymaking. While these two problems are often intertwined, misrepresentation is a problem of epistemic and normative judgments, whereas negligence is a motivational problem. The interests of future generations are especially likely to be neglected in cases of so-called intergenerational conflict, that is, situations of welfare tradeoffs between present and future generations. Inclusive democratic deliberation is a remedy for misrepresentation, but its capacity to address negligence may be more limited. Finally, the article remarks on the role of future-regarding deliberation in representative democratic systems.

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

Cited by 3 publications

References 65 publications

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

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

Do the origins of climate assemblies shape public reactions? Examining the impact of partisanship

The Politics of Non‐Existence

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