How Equal Is Organized Citizen Deliberation?

• In Event: Empirical Research and Future Directions for Democratic Innovations

Abstract

A deliberative mini-public (DMPs) is an organized form of citizen deliberation where a representative sample of the public gather to receive information and discuss in moderated small groups under specific norms. Previous research shows that participants in DMPs both learn on the topic(s) at hand and change opinions. In the present paper we study how equal the small group discussions were in three DMPs which we have organized. Each of them concerned a different topic; 1) nuclear power (organized in 2006, n=135), 2) immigration (2012, n=207), and 3) transportation planning (2020, n=171). Each DMP followed roughly the same procedures: a random selection of participants received balanced information on the topic and deliberated in moderated small groups. An experimental manipulation (participants were randomly assigned to treatment conditions) was used in each mini-public. In the first, small groups made decisions either with a secret ballot or by writing a common statement. In the second, participants discussed either in mixed or in like-minded groups. In the third, participants discussed either in groups with ordinary citizens only or in groups were two local politicians also participated. In each mini-public, small group discussions were recorded and transcribed. In this paper we take an interest in the ideal of achieving internal inclusion in deliberation. Thus, we have conducted both quantitative and a qualitative content analysis of the discussions. The quantitative analysis includes all small group discussion from the three experiments, whereas the qualitative analysis uses a random selection of the small group discussions with the Discourse Quality Index (DQI). We were interested in the influence of the context, the topic, the treatment condition, as well as individual characteristics, gender, age, and the level of education.

Authors

• Kimmo Gronlund, Abo Akademi University

• Kaisa Herne, Tampere University