Deliberative democracy: exploring new forms of legitimacy?

Abstract

Deliberative Mini-Publics (DMPs), as political decision-making mechanisms, are often referred to as legitimising devices. Considering that DMPs are in contradiction with deliberative democratic ideals of legitimation through large scale deliberation, they are often labeled as experiments and can be seen as shortcuts towards legitimate decisions. Studies are showing, however, that this shortcuts approach does not necessarily increase the legitimacy of resulting decisions as perceived by the wider public. Why are they continuing to be replicated and institutionalised in western democracies? What are the motivations behind this proliferation of DMPs? The present thesis attempts to answer these questions through the analysis of a combination of long-form and short-form qualitative data collected around DMPs in Brussels. Findings include insights on process design that can lead to increased emotions legitimacy.