Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public
One hope associated with the spread of deliberative mini-publics in established democracies is that they could increase acceptance of policies because of their inclusive and diverse composition. Yet, participants are not representative of the broader public in all characteristics. They tend to be mo...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Westminster Press
2024-08-01
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| Series: | Journal of Deliberative Democracy |
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| Online Access: | https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1535/ |
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| author | Davide Vittori Emilien Paulis Jean-Benoit Pilet Sebsastien Rojon |
| author_facet | Davide Vittori Emilien Paulis Jean-Benoit Pilet Sebsastien Rojon |
| author_sort | Davide Vittori |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | One hope associated with the spread of deliberative mini-publics in established democracies is that they could increase acceptance of policies because of their inclusive and diverse composition. Yet, participants are not representative of the broader public in all characteristics. They tend to be more engaged with politics or debated policy issues than the average population. Building on a Climate Citizens’ Assembly commissioned by the Luxembourg government in 2022 (Klima Biergerrot-KBR), this study examines how the maxi public reacts when informed about the profile of mini-public participants. Via a survey experiment, we found that descriptive representation and similarity matter to accept the outcomes, but not universally. It depends on respondents’ attitudes about mini-publics prior to the experiment and situations of cognitive dissonance. Indeed, when people initially neutral or opposed to mini-publics (‘participatory skeptics’) learn that the process is fairly representing (their in-) groups, they increase their willingness to accept the outcomes, stressing improvement in the perceived legitimacy. By contrast, the lack of social inclusion and political diversity is an issue to keep the ‘participatory enthusiasts’ on board, stressing that they also pay attention (and perhaps even more) to how and which groups of citizens are represented within a mini-public. Our message is that deliberative mini-publics need to address more thoroughly how they can best meet their normative assumptions of participatory equality and procedural fairness; otherwise, they may not help to foster political legitimacy. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d632374400ec467cabde7fec8cb06de6 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2634-0488 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-08-01 |
| publisher | University of Westminster Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Deliberative Democracy |
| spelling | doaj-art-d632374400ec467cabde7fec8cb06de62025-08-20T02:51:18ZengUniversity of Westminster PressJournal of Deliberative Democracy2634-04882024-08-0120110.16997/jdd.1535Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi PublicDavide Vittori0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0161-9679Emilien Paulis1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5954-4182Jean-Benoit Pilet2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5612-0835Sebsastien Rojon3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3559-4673Université libre de BruxellesDepartment of Humanities, University of LuxembourgUniversité libre de BruxellesUniversité libre de BruxellesOne hope associated with the spread of deliberative mini-publics in established democracies is that they could increase acceptance of policies because of their inclusive and diverse composition. Yet, participants are not representative of the broader public in all characteristics. They tend to be more engaged with politics or debated policy issues than the average population. Building on a Climate Citizens’ Assembly commissioned by the Luxembourg government in 2022 (Klima Biergerrot-KBR), this study examines how the maxi public reacts when informed about the profile of mini-public participants. Via a survey experiment, we found that descriptive representation and similarity matter to accept the outcomes, but not universally. It depends on respondents’ attitudes about mini-publics prior to the experiment and situations of cognitive dissonance. Indeed, when people initially neutral or opposed to mini-publics (‘participatory skeptics’) learn that the process is fairly representing (their in-) groups, they increase their willingness to accept the outcomes, stressing improvement in the perceived legitimacy. By contrast, the lack of social inclusion and political diversity is an issue to keep the ‘participatory enthusiasts’ on board, stressing that they also pay attention (and perhaps even more) to how and which groups of citizens are represented within a mini-public. Our message is that deliberative mini-publics need to address more thoroughly how they can best meet their normative assumptions of participatory equality and procedural fairness; otherwise, they may not help to foster political legitimacy.https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1535/deliberative mini-publicsmini-public compositionoutcome acceptancepublic opinion |
| spellingShingle | Davide Vittori Emilien Paulis Jean-Benoit Pilet Sebsastien Rojon Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public Journal of Deliberative Democracy deliberative mini-publics mini-public composition outcome acceptance public opinion |
| title | Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public |
| title_full | Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public |
| title_fullStr | Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public |
| title_full_unstemmed | Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public |
| title_short | Fair Enough? Mini-Public Composition and Outcome Acceptance from the Maxi Public |
| title_sort | fair enough mini public composition and outcome acceptance from the maxi public |
| topic | deliberative mini-publics mini-public composition outcome acceptance public opinion |
| url | https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1535/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidevittori fairenoughminipubliccompositionandoutcomeacceptancefromthemaxipublic AT emilienpaulis fairenoughminipubliccompositionandoutcomeacceptancefromthemaxipublic AT jeanbenoitpilet fairenoughminipubliccompositionandoutcomeacceptancefromthemaxipublic AT sebsastienrojon fairenoughminipubliccompositionandoutcomeacceptancefromthemaxipublic |