Research on scaling deliberative mini-publics

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SAGE Journals(peer-reviewed)·journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444

Credibility Rating

4/5

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High quality. Established institution or organization with editorial oversight and accountability.

Rating inherited from publication venue: SAGE Journals

Relevant to AI governance discussions about deliberative processes and citizens' assemblies as mechanisms for legitimate AI policy-making; highlights that procedural legitimacy depends heavily on whether outputs are honored by decision-makers.

Metadata

Importance: 45/100journal articleprimary source

Summary

A pre-registered survey experiment in Ireland (N=1309) testing how deliberative mini-publics (citizens' assemblies) affect perceptions of democratic legitimacy. The study finds mini-publics enhance legitimacy perceptions among the broader citizenry, but these benefits largely disappear when their recommendations are not honored by decision-makers. Citizens with low political trust drive most of the legitimacy-enhancing effects.

Key Points

•Mini-publics increase legitimacy perceptions among the broader public, but only when their non-binding recommendations are actually implemented.
•It makes no significant difference whether recommendations are overturned by elected representatives or by referendum — both undermine legitimacy gains equally.
•Legitimacy-enhancing effects are primarily driven by citizens who already have low political trust, suggesting mini-publics may help reconnect disaffected citizens.
•The study uses a pre-registered experimental design, strengthening causal inference about mini-public effects on democratic legitimacy.
•Findings have implications for scaling deliberative processes: institutional follow-through on recommendations is critical to realizing democratic benefits.

Cited by 1 page

Page	Type	Quality
AI-Assisted Deliberation	Approach	63.0

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[Political Studies](https://journals.sagepub.com/home/PSX)

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Contents

- [Abstract](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#abstract)
- [Introduction](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-1)
- [Formation of Legitimacy Perceptions](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-2)
- [Mini-Publics and Legitimacy Perceptions](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-3)
- [Expectations](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-4)
- [Research Design](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-5)
- [Location](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-6)
- [Results](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-7)
- [Conclusion](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#sec-8)
- [Acknowledgments](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#acknowledgments)
- [Declaration of Conflicting Interests](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#conflict)
- [Funding](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#funding)
- [ORCID iD](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#orcid)
- [Footnotes](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#footnotes)
- [Data availability statement](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#data-availability)
- [References](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#bibliography)
- [Biographies](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#biographies)
- [Supplementary Material](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00323217221137444#supplementary-materials)

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## Abstract

Deliberative mini-publics are increasingly used to try to tackle public discontent with the functioning of democracy. However, the ability of mini-publics to increase perceptions of legitimate decision-making among citizens at large remains unclear, given especially that existing studies have not considered the potentially damaging effects of mini-public recommendations not being followed. We designed, pre-registered, and ran a survey experiment in Ireland to test the effects of mini-publics on legitimacy perceptions conditional on whether or not thei

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