Of narratives that matters: The role of informal deliberative spaces and practitioners in empowering weak voices

The deliberative policy analysis (DPA) approach is at its critical juncture as it strives to cope with the emergence of complexities and uncertainties while co-evolving with contemporary issues and trends. The call for a grassroots renewal of the democratic value of DPA leads to a rethinking of how the approach can become more adept at understanding and relating to contexts of high inequalities. This article then explores the role of informal deliberative spaces and practitioners in understanding and emancipating voices and narratives from the margins in a deliberative policy analysis process. We note that the emancipatory potentials of deliberations may unravel in an informal deliberative space where the grassroots can comfortably utter their narratives and stories that inform public policy and sound alternatives. The article draws lessons from the ‘Chiang Mai, Thailand City Lab’ on how ‘empowering space’ as a form of informal deliberative space caters to these voices. It makes it a platform for informing decisions of power. Toward the end of the discussion, it revisited the role of a deliberative practitioner and mediator in the context of high inequalities, specifically in Thailand and Asia. The study then claims that to expand our understanding of DPA, we need to consider these context-based nuances that will further inform the use and application of the approach in cases when there is a considerable gap between the powerful and the powerless, as well as the privileged and the oppressed.