Democratic Innovation or Expensive Boondoggle? The value of mini-publics in theory and practice

The practice of conducting deliberative mini-publics has been growing for over thirty years. Mini-publics have dominated the imagination of scholars and practitioners in the wider deliberative community. Though often treated as synonymous, mini-publics and deliberative democratic theory do not share a common origin. The extent of their common purpose is often questioned, particularly when it comes to the nature of their proper use. With the growth in practice of mini-publics poised to continue it is timely to consider relevant questions:

· What place should mini-publics hold in the democratic lexicon?

· How can they be most productively used, to what end, and by who?

· What are the implications for design?

· How might their productive use vary across issue and location?

Historically, the focus has been on the use of mini-publics to inform policy development, with the direct implementation of outcomes both the most contested and least common approach. But there are many routes to impact. The use of Citizen’s Initiative Review to inform prospective voters about the relevant issues in the lead up to referenda the best-known example of approaches the leverage (or scale up) the experience of mini-public deliberation. The example of the 2024 Swedish Citizens’ Assembly on climate policy has sought to use the event to generate a wider public about the issue through the lens of participants is another example that does not involve the immediate prospect of a vote. The seminar will explore the value mini-public deliberation through the multifocal lens of theory and practice.