Mini-Publics and Representative Government: How Deliberation on Climate Change Influences Trust in Institutions

What are the effects of deliberative mini-publics on citizens’ trust in institutions and satisfaction with democracy? In this study we explore whether and how deliberative mini-publics can strengthen support for representative government at the local level. We contribute to existing literature by focusing on a real-life case of a citizens’ assembly and combining it with an extensive survey experiment. The case study is a citizens’ assembly that is taking place in a Danish municipality in spring 2025 with the aim to address a series of “climate-adaptation interventions” to mitigate the consequences of climate change at the local level. Besides surveying the participants in the assembly, at the end of the deliberative process we are planning to conduct a large survey experiment with all the municipality residents, in which some respondents will be informed about the output of the assembly. In addition, we will manipulate the type and amount of information that some respondents will receive. The goal is to test whether and how a deliberative process has positive spill-over effects on citizens’ trust in institutions and satisfaction with democracy at the local level. Furthermore, we will analyse whether the output of the assembly affects citizens’ views on climate change and whether it would influence their voting decisions in a potential local referendum on that topic. The survey will be conducted in early June and we are planning to present preliminary findings at the ECPR General Conference.