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.

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.

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.

On the Decline and Possible Fall of PPBS

1973 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 85-106
Author(s):  
Robert L Harlow
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Actual Structure ◽  
Naive Conception ◽  
Political Decision Making ◽  
Great Complexity

The apparent failure of the Planning-Programming-Budgeting System (PPBS) to fulfill hopes for it in the federal government is examined in this article from the perspective of arguments surrounding its inception. It is argued that PPBS proponents had a naive conception of the political process, and that PPBS as an overall system has failed for precisely the reasons predicted by early critics. The productive aspects of the system do not require the overall framework to be useful, and, to the extent that improved budgeting is possible, it can be achieved in other ways more consistent with the actual structure of political decision-making in a world characterized by great complexity and disagreement about values.

scholarly journals How Donald Tramp makes decisions?

2019 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-310
Author(s):  
Dragan Simic ◽  
Dragan Zivojinovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Management Style ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
S Model ◽  
Decision Making Model ◽  
Political Decision Making

The forty-fifth US president, unlike most of his predecessors, has no experience in political decision-making. Nevertheless, Trump?s behavior from the big business can help find patterns of his decision making. The two-and-a-half-year presidential term, however, provides convincing insights into how he makes decisions. Although he likes to make decisions and thinks he does it well, President Donald Trump actually spends very little time preparing for the most difficult decisions. In most cases, the president decides beforehand on instinct, and then actually just seeks justification and support for the decision already made. On the other hand, over-reliance on the closest circle of associates and not delving into the details and several aspects of the problem provides a too big opportunity for miscalculations and wrong decisions. In this mix of micromanagement and macromanagement, Trump?s model is most reminiscent of a competitive decision-making model, while in terms of control and involvement in the political process, his management style can be characterized by a Magistrate/Delegator combination; while when it comes to leader sensitivity to the context, we see Trump as the ?Maverick?.

Wegvoeringen en weggevoerden tijdens de meidagen van 1940

2014 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 250-259
Author(s):  
Etienne Verhoeyen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Majority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Extreme Right ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Belgian Society ◽  
Complete Study ◽  
History Of ◽  
Risky Business ◽  
Political Decision Making

Met dit boek levert Frank Seberechts een nagenoeg volledige studie af van een van de minder fraai kanten van de Belgische samenleving in 1940: de administratieve arrestatie en de wegvoering naar Frankrijk van enkele duizenden personen (de ‘verdachten’), Belgen of in België verblijvende vreemdelingen. De extreem-rechtse en pro-Duitse arrestanten hebben na hun vrijlating dit feit politiek in hun voordeel uitgebaat, waardoor volledig in de schaduw kwam te staan dat de overgrote meerderheid van de weggevoerden joodse mensen waren die in de jaren voor de oorlog naar België waren gevlucht. Dat het beeld van de wegvoeringen niet volledig is, is grotendeels te wijten aan het feit dat de meeste archieven die hierop betrekking hebben tijdens de meidagen van 1940 vernietigd werden. Met name de politieke besluitvorming over de wegvoeringen vertoont nog steeds schemerzones, zodat het vastleggen van verantwoordelijkheden ook vandaag nog een gewaagde onderneming is.________Deportations and the deported during the Maydays in 1940 By means of this book Frank Seberechts provides an almost complete study of one of the less admirable sides of Belgian society in 1940: the administrative arrest and the deportation to France of some thousands of people (‘the suspects’), Belgians or foreigners residing in Belgium. The extreme-right and pro-German detainees politically exploited this fact after they had been freed, but this completely overshadowed the point that the large majority of the deported people were Jews who had fled to Belgium during the years preceding the war. This incomplete portrayal of the deportations is mainly due to the fact that most of the archives relating to the events had been destroyed during the Maydays of 1940. The history of the political decision-making about the deportations in particular still shows many grey areas and it is therefore still a risky business even today to determine which people should be held accountable.

scholarly journals A survey of methods for evaluating mini-publics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeuchi Ayano
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractPublic participation has become increasingly necessary to connect a wide range of knowledge and various values to agenda setting, decision-making and policymaking. In this context, deliberative democratic concepts, especially “mini-publics,” are gaining attention. Generally, mini-publics are conducted with randomly selected lay citizens who provide sufficient information to deliberate on issues and form final recommendations. Evaluations are conducted by practitioner researchers and independent researchers, but the results are not standardized. In this study, a systematic review of existing research regarding practices and outcomes of mini-publics was conducted. To analyze 29 papers, the evaluation methodologies were divided into 4 categories of a matrix between the evaluator and evaluated data. The evaluated cases mainly focused on the following two points: (1) how to maintain deliberation quality, and (2) the feasibility of mini-publics. To create a new path to the political decision-making process through mini-publics, it must be demonstrated that mini-publics can contribute to the decision-making process and good-quality deliberations are of concern to policy-makers and experts. Mini-publics are feasible if they can contribute to the political decision-making process and practitioners can evaluate and understand the advantages of mini-publics for each case. For future research, it is important to combine practical case studies and academic research, because few studies have been evaluated by independent researchers.

scholarly journals The crisis of modernity as the crisis of the political: Towards a critique of the reason of the ethos

2003 ◽  
pp. 61-85
Author(s):  
Simo Elakovic
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Political Power ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Act ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
Political Decision Making

The crisis of modernity as the crisis of the political is seen by the author primarily as a crisis of the "measure" of the criterion of political decision making and action. This crisis is understood in the first place as a crisis of self-awareness and practice of the ethos. Machiavelli was the first to attempt a solution to this problem by introducing the concept of virtus, which became the fundamental principle of modern political philosophy. However, many modern and contemporary interpreters of Machiavelli's thought often ignore the social and political context in which the political doctrine of the Florentine thinker arose. Namely, Machiavelli's effort to find an authentic form of the political act that would make possible a harmonization and stabilization of the dramatic political circumstances then prevailing in Italian cities required a reliable diagnosis and adequate means for a successful therapy of the sick organism of the community. The epochal novelty in Machiavelli's political theory was the shift from the ancient theorization of virtue to its modern operationalization. Nevertheless, this shift is often interpreted as a radical opposing of the Greek concept of arete to the Roman virtus, which is crudely and simplistically reduced to bravery and strength necessary for taking and keeping political power. Hegel in his political philosophy travels an important part of the road - unconsciously rather than consciously - along with Machiavelli and Shelling. This particularly holds for his understanding of the necessity of strength and bravery in the process of operationalizing the spirit of freedom in history through the mediation of "negation" as "the power of evil". The mediation of subjectivity and substantiality, according to Hegel, takes place in the state by the brutal bridling of the world spirit where not just individuals but whole peoples are sacrificed - toward freedom, i.e. its realization in the community of the ethos. The "trouble of the times" is a consequence of the separation between I and the world (Entzeiung) and stems from a reduced political reason which lacks the criterion of the ethical totality for political action and decision making. By the separation of the ethos this reason get routinized and political action is reduced to naked technique of winning and keeping political power. In the concluding segment of the paper the author points to some global consequences of the crisis of political decision making in the historical reality at the end of 20th century.

scholarly journals The Russian Political Elite in the Context of Modern Political Development

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 85-91
Author(s):  
M.Yu. Martynova ◽  
◽  
D.M. Feoktistova ◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Public Discussion ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Government ◽  
Political Decision Making

the author analyzes the problems of the activity and development of the political elite. The current political situation in Russia puts forward new requirements for the functioning of the management system of state institutions and determines the need for professionally trained, highly moral personnel of the modern political elite. The paper considers the possibility of introducing modern and progressive mechanisms of interaction between the government and society – crowdsourcing, which involves the wide involvement of citizens with an active civic position and public associations in the process of public discussion and political decision-making.

Political Agenda Setting

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Maurer
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
News Media ◽  
Agenda Setting ◽  
Media Coverage ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
Media Agenda ◽  
Political Decision Making

Political agenda setting is the part of agenda-setting research that refers to the influence of the media agenda on the agenda of political actors. More precisely, the central question of political agenda-setting research is whether political actors adopt the issue agenda of the news media in various aspects ranging from communicating about issues that are prominently discussed in the news media to prioritizing issues from the news media agenda in political decision making. Although such effects have been studied under different labels (agenda building, policy agenda setting) for several decades, research in this field has recently increased significantly based on a new theoretical model introducing the term political agenda setting. Studies based on that model usually find effects of media coverage on the attention political actors pay to various issues, but at the same time point to a number of contingent conditions. First, as found in research on public agenda setting, there is an influence of characteristics of news media (e.g., television news vs. print media) and issues (e.g., obtrusive vs. unobtrusive issues). Second, there is an influence of characteristics of the political context (e.g., government vs. oppositional parties) and characteristics of individual politicians (e.g., generalists vs. specialists). Third, the findings of studies on the political agenda-setting effect differ, depending on which aspects of the political agenda are under examination (e.g., social media messages vs. political decision making).

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