The right kind of participation? The effect of a deliberative mini-public on the perceived legitimacy of public decision-making

Abstract

Deliberative mini-publics have been put forward as a form of citizen participation that is particularly well suited to improve the legitimacy of public decision-making. Using a survey experiment, we find that the perceived legitimacy of a process that includes a deliberative mini-public is higher than a process in which citizens are not able to participate at all, but no higher than a process that includes a participation method that relies on self-selection. Our findings imply that deliberative mini-publics may not be the right instrument to repair the loss of legitimacy that many democratic institutions are thought to suffer.