Hopes over fears. Can democratic deliberation increase positive emotions concerning the future?

Deliberative mini-publics have been considered as a potential way to enhance consideration of the future and promote future-oriented thinking. Still, thinking about the future can be hard, because of the negative emotions such as stress and anxiety it can evoke. This article explores whether and to what extent deliberative mini-publics can help thinking about the future by invoking positive emotions, like hopefulness and enthusiasm. We analyze an online mini-public held in the region of Satakunta, Finland, which was organized to involve the public in the drafting process of a regional plan, extending to the year 2050. In addition to the standard practices of mini-publics, half of the small groups taking part in the Satakunta Citizens’ Assembly carried out a special imaginary time travel exercise, a so-called Future Design. The analysis makes use of both survey and qualitative data. Based on the surveys, we find that after democratic deliberation positive emotions like hopefulness and compassion increased, and negative emotions related to the future were reduced. Most notably, as a result of deliberation people became less fearful and confused about the future. There are, however, notable differences in how emotions developed in different small groups. Transcripts of the deliberations and participants’ interviews shed further light into how participants felt during the event and how their sentiments concerning the future changed. At the end, we discuss what our results mean for deliberative mini-publics and their potency in improving foresight of distant future.