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Citizen Deliberation in Germany: Lessons from the 'Bürgerrat Demokratie'
[journal article]
Abstract This article explores the capacity of randomly-selected, citizen deliberation procedures to deliver on their promise to generate inclusive and considered citizen judgements, connecting these to political authority and the broader public sphere. These 'mini-publics' are increasingly adopted in repres... view more
This article explores the capacity of randomly-selected, citizen deliberation procedures to deliver on their promise to generate inclusive and considered citizen judgements, connecting these to political authority and the broader public sphere. These 'mini-publics' are increasingly adopted in representative democratic systems. Germany is no exception and has been at the forefront of this trend. The article begins with a historical overview of citizen deliberation in Germany, followed by in-depth analysis of the pioneering case of the Bürgerrat Demokratie. This analysis shows mini-publics can produce more inclusive and considered citizen input into policy-making than self-selected participation, but highlights the need for attitudinal stratification in participation selection if mini-publics are to represent politically alienated citizens. Furthermore, it details how the Bürgerrat Demokratie's combination of an innovative, four-phase process design with civil society campaign expertise holds lessons for connecting citizen deliberation to both political authority and the public sphere without institutionalising the process.... view less
Keywords
ALLBUS; Federal Republic of Germany; democracy; deliberation; formulation of political objectives; political participation; civil society
Classification
Political Process, Elections, Political Sociology, Political Culture
Free Keywords
Bürgerrat Demokratie; Allgemeine Bevölkerungsumfrage der Sozialwissenschaften ALLBUS 2018 (ZA5270 v2.0.0)
Document language
English
Publication Year
2022
Page/Pages
p. 1-25
Journal
German Politics (2022) Latest Articles
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1080/09644008.2022.2088732
ISSN
1743-8993
Status
Published Version; peer reviewed
Licence
Creative Commons - Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0