Assessing and Measuring Public Communication in Deliberative Systems

This paper addresses the question how public communication can be assessed and measured from a deliberative system perspective. To this end, three methodological assumptions are made. First, comparative research usually adopts a variable-centred approach (in contradistinction to explanatory templates based on social mechanisms, process-tracing or thick description, for instance), thus what is required is to pinpoint the contributions of different elements to a deliberative system in order to operationalise them. Secondly, to identify the said contributions, one has to adopt a relational approach, i.e. the INTERactions between diverse elements should be considered. Thirdly, both policy-making and deliberative democracy (and by extension deliberative systems) are processes – hence, their dynamic character should also be taken into account. Based on these methodological assumptions, the paper draws on two case studies, namely the political processes that led to the abolition of military service in Germany and Spain. The outcome in both cases, after a number of policy reforms, was an overlapping or incompletely theorised consensus, which definitely settled the issue of conscription. Both cases illustrate how different actors, topics and events interact, as well as the role of public communication therein. Drawing on these two pieces of empirical research, the following hypothesis is formulated: The role of public communication within a deliberative system is, first, to generate variation, i.e. policy alternatives, as well as arguments for and against them. Second, and more importantly, the main contribution of public communication to a deliberative system lies in its capacity to say ‘no’, i.e. to promote debate and prevent an issue from being removed from the public agenda. In this way, public communication manages to indirectly influence political decisions. Finally, the paper makes a proposal as to how these two functions of public communication can be operationalised.