Facilitating inequality? The micro-politics of designing and facilitating deliberative innovations

Scholars, officials and activists share certain concerns about new spaces for democratic innovation. Will participation simply replicate the inequalities that characterise society at large? Can these innovations avoid empowering the already powerful? How can these spaces ensure that voices seldom heard are included and influential in deliberation? Deliberative studies often lack empirical detail on process design and facilitation work, thus overlooking the micro-politics of implementing deliberative engagement. Drawing on a large study of 3 citizens’ juries in Scotland (47 citizens), this paper offers unique insight into the participation dynamics of groups characterised by diversity and inequality. The project entailed a concurrent mixed methods research design combining 7 data sources (i.e. panel questionnaires; participant observation; notes from organisers, facilitators and recruiters; semi-structured interviews; photographs; evaluations; jury outputs). The purpose was to conduct an in-depth study of ‘process’ dimensions. Analysing 3 citizens’ juries on the same contested topic (i.e. wind farm development) in different locations allowed for unique comparative insight. The paper demonstrates how choices in recruitment, forum design and facilitation approaches are crucial to minimise inequalities in participation and influence during deliberative processes. While scholarship increasingly emphasises concerns at the level ‘macro’ (i.e. deliberative systems), the paper shows that there is still much to learn about the ‘micro’ dynamics that make such innovations more or less egalitarian and democratic.