Can Democracy be Deliberative & Participatory? The Democratic Case for Political Uses of Mini-Publics

Daedalus ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Lafont
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political System ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Negative Conclusion ◽  
Political Decision Making

This essay focuses on recent proposals to confer decisional status upon deliberative mini-publics such as citizens' juries, Deliberative Polls, and citizens' assemblies. Against such proposals, I argue that inserting deliberative mini-publics into political decision-making processes would diminish the democratic legitimacy of the political system as a whole. This negative conclusion invites a question: which political uses of mini-publics would yield genuinely democratic improvements? Drawing from a participatory conception of deliberative democracy, I propose several uses of mini-publics that could enhance the democratic legitimacy of political decision-making in current societies.

Participatory Budgeting

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henriette I. Weber ◽  
Sebastian Vogt ◽  
Lisa-Marie Eberz-Weber ◽  
Holger Steinmetz ◽  
Sascha A. Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Political Decision Making

Consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes has been increasing in order to facilitate democratic legitimacy and responsiveness. Consequently, participatory budgets have been established as a 'best practice' for consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes. The authors compare participatory budgets of 31 German municipalities. An analysis of differences between successfully and unsuccessfully rated participatory budgeting processes provides informative insights and allows for in-depth comparison on a municipal level. The authors show that external service providers and electronic participation channels significantly increase the number of participatory citizens and are positively connected with pursued objectives of dialog processes and public responsiveness as well as efficient and effective decisions. Furthermore, the acceptance of all participants proved to be a key factor for a successful public participation process. The authors' analysis opens up new starting points for further research.

The role of the Wali al-Faqih in the process of external political decision-making: An analytical study of the relevant articles of the revised Iranian constitution of 1989

2020 ◽  
pp. 79
Author(s):  
Wissam Saleh Abdul-Hussein Jassim Al-Rub
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political System ◽  
Analytical Study ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Supreme Leader ◽  
Political Decision Making

The Iranian Constitution of 1979 and the amendment of 1989 considered the Supreme Leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution the most powerful institution in influence and presence in the political system. The guide, directly or indirectly, through the agencies operating under his administration, and here we say that the political vision of the wali al-Faqih governs its authority over all the perceptions of decision-makers in their formulation and implementation of strategic decisions that achieve the goals of the Iranian regime at home and abroad.

Citizens' Juries and Deliberative Democracy

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham Smith ◽  
Corinne Wales
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Democratic Deliberation ◽  
Democratic Practice ◽  
The Face ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Political Decision Making

In the face of widespread dissatisfaction with contemporary democratic practice, there has been a growing interest in theories of deliberative democracy. However theorists have often failed to sufficiently address the question of institutional design. This paper argues that recent experiments with citizens' juries should be of interest to deliberative democrats. The practice of citizens' juries is considered in light of three deliberative democratic criteria: inclusivity, deliberation and citizenship. It is argued that citizens' juries offer important insights into how democratic deliberation could be institutionalized in contemporary political decision-making processes.

Internal variables affecting Iraqi political decision-making after the year 2003

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Political System ◽  
Internal Variables ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Decision Making

The research aims to study the internal variables affecting the political system, namely the constitution, national and federal identity, and political parties. The research concluded that Iraq is going through severe political crises, which are: 1.The permanent Iraqi constitution of 2005 still carries multiple problems, the most important of which is the relationship between the center and the region, with the existence of quotas and consensus, and they are the basis for the failure of effective Iraqi political decision-making, and the absence of a social contract 2.The existence of chaos of political parties and the domination of large blocs in decision-making, which led to the marginalization of minorities and the loss of their rights. Keywords:occupation; decision – making ; Internal variables; federalism; Political quota

Political Parties and Corruption: Reflections on the Italian Case

Modern Italy ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donatella della Porta
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Corruption ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Popular Participation ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Political Decision Making

Political corruption can be considered as a means by which money influences politics. In the classic studies the causes of corruption have usually been identified in the characteristics of the principal actor in the political system: the party. Samuel Huntington, in particular, has linked the development of corruption to party weakness during phases of growing political participation. Corruption spreads in those specific paths to modernization in which popular participation in political decision-making is not immediately accompanied by a strengthening of those institutions, such as political parties, which should filter and direct collective demands: ‘the weaker and less accepted the political parties, the greater the likelihood of corruption’.

The substance of procedures

2020 ◽  
pp. 019145372097473
Author(s):  
Sara Gebh
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Values And Beliefs ◽  
Political Decision Making

In Democracy without Shortcuts, Cristina Lafont identifies proceduralist or ‘deep pluralist’ conceptions of democracy alongside epistemic and lottocratic approaches as shortcuts that avoid the more challenging but, in her view, preferable path of engaging with and attempting to sway competing views, values and beliefs of fellow citizens. I argue that with the wholesale dismissal of proceduralist accounts of democracy Lafont herself takes two shortcuts: The first concerns the characterization of deep pluralism as unable to explain substantive disagreement after a decision is settled, and the second undervalues proceduralism’s ability to evaluate and criticize the substance of the political decision-making process. While her critique is fitting for minimalist conceptions of proceduralism, a theory of normative proceduralism shares many objectives with Lafont’s vision of a participatory deliberative democracy. Integrating those approaches instead of dismissing proceduralism outright would render her project appealing to theorists who would not otherwise consider themselves deliberative democrats.

Participatory Budgeting

2019 ◽  
pp. 1087-1107
Author(s):  
Henriette I. Weber ◽  
Sebastian Vogt ◽  
Lisa-Marie Eberz-Weber ◽  
Holger Steinmetz ◽  
Sascha A. Wagner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
Participatory Budgeting ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Key Factor ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Participation Process ◽  
Political Decision Making

Consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes has been increasing in order to facilitate democratic legitimacy and responsiveness. Consequently, participatory budgets have been established as a 'best practice' for consultative participation of citizens in political decision-making processes. The authors compare participatory budgets of 31 German municipalities. An analysis of differences between successfully and unsuccessfully rated participatory budgeting processes provides informative insights and allows for in-depth comparison on a municipal level. The authors show that external service providers and electronic participation channels significantly increase the number of participatory citizens and are positively connected with pursued objectives of dialog processes and public responsiveness as well as efficient and effective decisions. Furthermore, the acceptance of all participants proved to be a key factor for a successful public participation process. The authors' analysis opens up new starting points for further research.

Ideals and Actions: Do Citizens’ Patterns of Political Participation Correspond to their Conceptions of Democracy?

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 234-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Åsa Bengtsson ◽  
Henrik Christensen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Political System ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
National Election Study ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Political Decisions ◽  
Political Decision Making

The interest in procedures for political decision-making has grown tremendously during recent decades. Given the intense scholarly debate and the implementation of greater opportunities for citizen participation in many democracies, there has been surprisingly little interest in citizens’ conceptions of democracy understood as their preferences concerning the processes by which the political system works. Some recent attempts do, however, suggest that it is important to expand the study of public opinion from policy output to decision-making processes, and that there are coherent patterns in citizens’ expectations of the way in which political decisions come about. What is not clear, though, is whether citizens’ different conceptions of democracy have repercussions for how they engage in politics. Using the Finnish National Election Study of 2011 (Borg and Grönlund 2011), this article explores the relationship between citizens’ conceptions of democracy and patterns of political participation. Results demonstrate a distinct association between citizens’ ideals and the actions they take.

Animal Agora

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-735
Author(s):  
Sue Donaldson ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Animal Rights ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Domesticated Animals ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Political Turn

Many theorists of the ‘political turn’ in animal rights theory emphasize the need for animals’ interests to be considered in political decision-making processes, but deny that this requires self-representation and participation by animals themselves. I argue that participation by domesticated animals in co-authoring our shared world is indeed required, and explore two ways to proceed: 1) by enabling animal voice within the existing geography of human-animal roles and relationships; and 2) by freeing animals into a revitalized public commons (‘animal agora’) where citizens encounter one another in spontaneous, unpredictable encounters in spaces that they can re-shape together.

Mini-Publics and Deliberative Democracy

2018 ◽  
pp. 299-314
Author(s):  
Graham Smith ◽  
Maija Setälä
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Deliberative Democracy ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Concern ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
High Quality ◽  
Political Decision Making

Deliberative mini-publics are institutions in which a diverse body of citizens is selected randomly to reason together about an issue of public concern. Despite the intense scholarly interest in mini-publics, to date their role has been fairly marginal in democratic polities. The chapter opens with an introduction to the variations in the design of mini-publics. We then review empirical evidence on the internal practice of mini-publics and argue that their capacity to support high quality deliberation explains the growing interest in these institutions. Finally, we analyze the possible roles of mini-publics within the political process. In both practical and normative terms, mini-publics tend to be perceived as consultative bodies. We examine arguments against the use of mini-publics in political decision making, evidence from their integration with direct and representative decision-making, and finally arguments for giving mini-publics a more decisive role in the political process.

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