Does Democratic Innovation Reduce Bias? The G1000 as a New Form of Local Citizen Participation

Abstract

Since less well educated citizens are underrepresented in many forms of citizen participation, deliberative 'mini-publics' have been introduced as a democratic innovation to redress some of this inequality. Using data from eleven Dutch deliberative mini-publics (G1000s), this study shows that despite attempts to broaden the appeal of the mini-public, a clear educational bias in the output of the deliberations remains; the output largely reflects the wishes and preferences of the more highly educated. Themes like crime and safety, immigration and integration, which are important concerns for many citizens in their local communities, rarely made it onto the G1000 'Agenda for the City'. From a perspective of democratic legitimacy, this finding is worrisome. The paper concludes with some suggestions that combine the strength of a deliberative setting with equality and external democratic legitimacy to overcome this problem.

Engaged, Indifferent, Skeptical or Critical? Disentangling Attitudes towards Local Deliberative Mini-Publics in Four Western European Democracies

“…Since the 1990s, the use of deliberative democratic innovations has been expanding in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. However, these initiatives are often implemented ad hoc, loosely connected to policymaking and specific to a few cities or regions [25][26][27]. Municipalities in the Netherlands have experimented with citizens' juries, participatory budgeting, and citizens' summits.…”

“…Municipalities in the Netherlands have experimented with citizens' juries, participatory budgeting, and citizens' summits. Mini-publics composed of randomly-selected citizens referred to as "G1000" were implemented to reinvigorate representative democracy in at least a dozen municipalities [27]. In Germany, a similar initiative known as "Planning Cells", of which more than 50 cases have been recorded, bring together randomly-selected citizens to influence decision-making on urban development [28].…”

Trends in Mini-Publics Research: High Expectations, Mixed Findings, and Clear-Cut Challenges

“…The study of eleven deliberative mini-publics in the Netherlands shows that despite efforts made to avoid it, a clear educational bias in the output of deliberation remains, given that, according to Binnema and Michels (2022), the output largely reflects the wishes and preferences of the more highly-educated. Similar evidence is even stronger in deeply divided societies (Garry et al 2022).…”

Towards enhancing local citizen participation in Uganda

“…Innovative participation includes, but is not limited to, four possibilities (Binnema & Michels, 2021): Environmental fora, which include professionals and activists that come together in order to find practical ways of overcoming an environmental disaster as well as environmental preservation and conservation (Zhang & Lee, 2020). In essence, such fora would be fundamental among local governments since their adoption at a time when the global environmental trends are changing rapidly would enhance sustainable and implementation in Uganda as long as citizens are committed and patriotic.…”