Less complex language, more participation: how consultation documents shape participatory patterns

Abstract

Consultations are thought to increase the legitimacy of policies. However, this reasoning only holds if stakeholders really participate in the consultations. Current scholarship offers three explanations for participation patterns: Institutional rules, policy characteristics, and interest group resources determine participation. This article argues that additionally the linguistic complexity of consultation documents influences participation. Complex language deters potential participants, because it raises the costs of participation. A quantitative analysis of the German consultation of electricity grids lends credibility to the argument: If the description of a power line is simplified between two consultation rounds, the number of contributions mentioning that power line increases. This result contributes to our understanding of unequal participation patterns, and the institutional design of participatory procedures. If we think that legitimacy is enhanced by broad participation, then language of the documents matters.

Does policy context matter for citizen engagement in policymaking? Evidence from the European Commission's public consultation regime

“…This finding corresponds with the results of studies on interest group diversity in consultations like Beyers and Arras (2019) and Røed and Hansen (2018), who find less interest group diversity on more complex issues. It is also consistent with observations on citizen participation in EU consultations made by Persson (2007) and Hierlemann et al (2022) and the findings of Fink et al (2021) in German consultations on infrastructure. Among the control variables, time trend, OPCs and directives have a significant positive effect on citizen participation.…”

“…The analysis shows that citizens participate in greater numbers in initiatives in the pre-formulation stages of supranational policymaking, as well as in initiatives associated with documents formulated in less complex text. These findings draw some similarities with the costbenefit calculations of interest groups and their mobilisation patterns in consultations, where complexity leads to more biased interest group participatory patterns (Beyers and Arras, 2019;Rasmussen et al, 2014;Røed and Hansen, 2018) and lower citizen participation in particular (Fink et al, 2021).…”

“…As for studies on consultations at the national level, Coglianese (2006) finds quite low levels of citizen participation in US rulemaking procedures but notes an increase in participation on salient issues. Fink et al (2021) find lower citizen participation when more complex language is used in policy documents in their analysis of consultations on electricity grids in Germany. In summary, while the aforementioned studies show variation in citizen participation in consultations, they do not propose a cohesive explanatory framework based on policy context.…”

“…Beyers and Arras, 2019;Haber and Heims, 2020;Røed and Hansen, 2018). Furthermore, the cost-benefit framework has also been applied to citizen participation in policymaking (Fink et al, 2021;Sjoberg et al, 2017). Building on this literature, I consider the cost-benefit framework a good starting point for constructing the theoretical framework.…”

Quantitative Textual Analysis as a means to explore corporate interests in food safety

“…Language in policy matters because it influences what is allowed, funded or discontinued. Language also matters because it influences how policies are implemented (Abelson and Gauvin, 2006; Fink et al, 2021). Thus, different actors compete to get their discourse incorporated into the policy text, although how they pursue these goals varies (Ingold et al, 2020).…”