The Effects of Democratic Innovation: Mini-Publics and Inequality in The Netherlands

Across Europe, satisfaction with the institutions and processes of representative democracy is declining, as many citizens feel they are inadequately represented by politicians. In response, politicians, citizens and scholars have called for democratic innovations based on more direct citizen involvement, such as online consultations, participatory budgeting, or mini-publics. Yet, little is known about the actual effects of these innovations on democratic quality. In this paper, we will focus on the effects of one type of innovation, mini-publics, on equality. Research on both institutional forms and non-institutional forms of participation shows an overrepresentation of highly educated individuals. The same conclusion seems to hold for e-participation and citizen governance. If this were to lead to the neglect or even exclusion of the interests and preferences of the less well-educated groups in society, this poses a serious problem of democratic legitimacy. Mini-publics, which are characterised by deliberation, and for which participants are often selected through sortition, would potentially redress some of the imbalance in participation. Yet, as we will argue in this paper, the high educated tend to be overrepresented in deliberative fora as well. A lack of diversity regarding education levels appears to have substantial consequences for the topics that are on the table and the advices or proposals that mini-publics produce. This paper looks in depth at eleven mini-publics in The Netherlands, the G1000 citizens’ summits, to analyse the effect of inequality on the policies that are proposed. Our study shows that crime and safety, immigration and integration, which are important concerns for many citizens, rarely made it onto the G1000 ‘Agenda for the City’. Neither sortition nor deliberation in the format of the G1000 are sufficient to reduce inequality in participation and outcome. Preferred panel: Citizen participation and democratic innovations in local politics (chairs Angelika Vetter & Stefania Ravazzi)