Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation
This paper lays out the practical and theoretical characteristics of formally empowered deliberation as a distinctive subset of deliberative processes. As part of a recent broad shift toward a more deliberative conception of democratic politics, participatory deliberative processes increasingly have...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Westminster Press
2015-05-01
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| Series: | Journal of Deliberative Democracy |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/491/ |
| _version_ | 1828095561110126592 |
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| author | Carolina Johnson John Gastil |
| author_facet | Carolina Johnson John Gastil |
| author_sort | Carolina Johnson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper lays out the practical and theoretical characteristics of formally empowered deliberation as a distinctive subset of deliberative processes. As part of a recent broad shift toward a more deliberative conception of democratic politics, participatory deliberative processes increasingly have been formally empowered as part of democratic governance. Governments have moved to delegate authority and deliberative responsibility from elite bodies to lay publics more quickly than scholars have been able to fully identify the implications of this institutionalization for the quality of both deliberation and democracy. This paper describes the emerging characteristics of formally empowered deliberation as a distinctive subset of deliberative processes, in which deliberation between members of the general public is given credible formal authority over policy development and decision making. We first develop a clearer conceptualization of empowered deliberation within the general trend toward participatory governance. We also review critical and supportive perspectives on empowered deliberation, making explicit tradeoffs inherent in the decision to develop an empowered deliberative process. Next, we identify four key dimensions of variation in the design of empowered deliberative institutions, in particular embeddedness in the social/ political context and the scope of authority of the deliberative decision. To illustrate these dimensions, we discuss key cases from around the world, noting which forms of empowered deliberation have seen less common innovation and documentation. Finally, we briefly consider how specific processes may become empowered or transform over time, as they transition from experimental or one-off pilot projects to recurring and institutionalized aspects of democratic governance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:15:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6fe56cdbae014853b16510c837ba5b2e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2634-0488 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T07:15:34Z |
| publishDate | 2015-05-01 |
| publisher | University of Westminster Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Deliberative Democracy |
| spelling | doaj.art-6fe56cdbae014853b16510c837ba5b2e2022-12-22T04:38:01ZengUniversity of Westminster PressJournal of Deliberative Democracy2634-04882015-05-0111110.16997/jdd.219Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered DeliberationCarolina Johnson0John Gastil1 Pennsylvania State UniversityThis paper lays out the practical and theoretical characteristics of formally empowered deliberation as a distinctive subset of deliberative processes. As part of a recent broad shift toward a more deliberative conception of democratic politics, participatory deliberative processes increasingly have been formally empowered as part of democratic governance. Governments have moved to delegate authority and deliberative responsibility from elite bodies to lay publics more quickly than scholars have been able to fully identify the implications of this institutionalization for the quality of both deliberation and democracy. This paper describes the emerging characteristics of formally empowered deliberation as a distinctive subset of deliberative processes, in which deliberation between members of the general public is given credible formal authority over policy development and decision making. We first develop a clearer conceptualization of empowered deliberation within the general trend toward participatory governance. We also review critical and supportive perspectives on empowered deliberation, making explicit tradeoffs inherent in the decision to develop an empowered deliberative process. Next, we identify four key dimensions of variation in the design of empowered deliberative institutions, in particular embeddedness in the social/ political context and the scope of authority of the deliberative decision. To illustrate these dimensions, we discuss key cases from around the world, noting which forms of empowered deliberation have seen less common innovation and documentation. Finally, we briefly consider how specific processes may become empowered or transform over time, as they transition from experimental or one-off pilot projects to recurring and institutionalized aspects of democratic governance.https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/491/participatory democracylegitimacyparticipatory governancedemocratic innovationdeliberative democracy |
| spellingShingle | Carolina Johnson John Gastil Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation Journal of Deliberative Democracy participatory democracy legitimacy participatory governance democratic innovation deliberative democracy |
| title | Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation |
| title_full | Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation |
| title_fullStr | Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation |
| title_short | Variations of Institutional Design for Empowered Deliberation |
| title_sort | variations of institutional design for empowered deliberation |
| topic | participatory democracy legitimacy participatory governance democratic innovation deliberative democracy |
| url | https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/491/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carolinajohnson variationsofinstitutionaldesignforempowereddeliberation AT johngastil variationsofinstitutionaldesignforempowereddeliberation |