Connecting Citizens and Administrative Policymaking

Chapter 5 unpacks the problematic governance disconnect experienced in contemporary democracy where there is a gap between administrative policymaking and the democratic will of citizens. The chapter examines the work of administrators, patient activists, and advocates in the health sector in Britain through the long and confusing policymaking process. It draws on a programme of work that encompasses four closely related examples of newly formed public agencies in Britain’s health sector. The analysis shows how administrators inside these organizations have used their privileged position to ‘reach out’ in order to enable radical new opportunities for public scrutiny and participatory input, as well as how advocates and activists in civil society build and channel their capacity to ‘reach in’ and take advantage of, and at times subvert or transform, opportunities to influence policy or policymakers. The chapter outlines the ways these four agencies can repair the disconnect between citizens and complex policy processes that govern them—as well as highlighting persistent obstacles and new challenges. The chapter concludes by outlining the key insights from the case for understanding and advancing connectivity in deliberative sytems.

Advancing a Connective Approach to Democratic Reform

Chapter 8 presents the key take-home messages for advancing the work of democratic reform in disconnected times. The chapter makes the case for expanding democratic repair beyond institutional proposals and towards a more emergent and systemic approach aimed at building connections across democratic systems. The analysis encourages democratic reformers to learn from the creative connective practices of everyday actors who seek to mend disconnects and make democracy work in context. The final section of the chapter presents key principles of democratic mending, urging advocates and practitioners of democratic reform to think more creatively about how to ‘make do’ with the materials at their disposal.

Connecting Publics in a Fractured Public Sphere

Chapter 4 presents an empirical case on the problematic public disconnect in contemporary democracy where multiple publics are fractured in the public sphere. The chapter explores how a group of everyday citizens created connections between diverse publics in the public sphere. The analysis centres on the creative and playful connective activities of Knitting Nannas Against Gas (KNAG), an Australian-based social protest group opposed to coal seam gas development. Drawing on interviews conducted with the members of these groups across four different locations in New South Wales, the chapter reveals a rich variety of ways in which these groups seek to create connections with two opposing publics, as well as with latent publics. The chapter shows the significance of aesthetic-affective forms of communication, including non-verbal communication in crafting novel connections in a fractured public sphere, and discusses the ways these connections can help enhance the epistemic quality and reflexivity of the public sphere. The chapter concludes by discussing how the case of KNAG enriches current ideas on connectivity in deliberative systems.

Connecting Constituents and Elected Representatives

Chapter 3 focuses on the problematic representative disconnect experienced in contemporary democracy, where linkages between elected representatives and their constituents are weak. The chapter presents an empirical case of how a group of residents, Voices4Indi, have sucessfully strengthened their representative–constituent relationship in the Australian federal electorate of Indi. Drawing on interviews with key members of Voices4Indi, the chapter unpacks how everyday citizens sought to repair the representative process by facilitating listening between citizens, and empowering voters to elect a representative committed to connecting and being responsive. The chapter shows in rich detail the diverse ways that both citizens and their elected representatives can creatively mend disconnections in the representative–constituent relationship. The chapter concludes by considering how the Indi experience advances our understanding of connectivity in deliberative systems.

Repairing Democracy’s Disconnects

Chapter 1 argues that democracy in many societies is wearing thin due to widespread disconnects being experienced between citizens and their elected representatives, between publics in fractious and polarized public spheres, and between citizens and tangled policy processes. Collectively, these disconnects are problematic for realizing democracy at the large scale not only because they produce subtle forms of exclusion, but also because they restrict the movement of ideas and arguments between affected publics and those authorized to make and implement collective decisions. The chapter invites contemporary advocates of democratic reform to think harder both about the nature of these disconnects and about how to repair them. It begins with an overview of the prevailing ideas about contemporary democratic renewal and reform, and then introduces the concept of democratic mending as a promising pathway for advancing democratic reform especially in societies characterized by systemic disconnects.

Towards a Connective Turn in Deliberative Democracy

Chapter 7 presents the theoretical implications of connective practices for deliberative democratic theory, particularly recent systemic thinking. The chapter revisits evolving ideas about deliberative systems and reconsiders them in light of the book’s emphasis on connective practices. More specifically, it discusses why and how a focus on connective practices can enrich ideas of inclusion, reciprocity, and reflection in deliberative systems. The chapter concludes by making the case for a ‘connective turn’ in deliberative democratic theory and research—a turn which seeks to render abstract thinking in deliberative democracy more useful for practical reform.

Connective Practices

Chapter 6 draws together common insights from the three preceding empirical chapters to better understand the everyday practical work of democratic mending. The chapter introduces the concept of ‘connective practices’ to capture the individual and collective efforts of actors to mend their democratic systems, and discusses the different features of connective practices that make them especially effective for mending democratic disconnects. Drawing insights from the empirical cases presented throughout the book, the chapter identifies the relational, creative, adaptive, co-constituted, and iterative characteristics of connective practices, and considers their democratic implications.

Conceptualizing Connectivity in Deliberative Democracy

Chapter 2 offers a critical review of three systemic accounts of deliberative democracy, focusing on their assumptions about democratic connectivity. It draws attention to the ‘communicative miracles’ that lie at the heart of each deliberative system account—‘miracles’ that are out of step with contemporary disconnects experienced in the representative process, in the public sphere itself, and along the policy process. The chapter shows that these ‘communicative miracles’ are not only theoretical blind spots, but also practical obstacles hindering deliberative democracy from speaking more directly to, and serving as a richer resource for, democratic renewal. The chapter calls for a more empirically informed account of connectivity in contemporary public deliberation, one that is grounded in the work and agency of those involved in making or strengthening connectivity. It argues that an abductive research approach that employs interpretive methods is particularly well suited for developing such empirically informed accounts of connectivity. The chapter concludes by making the case for the close study of contemporary political practices, especially focused on how diverse actors are experiencing democratic disconnects, and what actions they are taking to mend them.