Deliberative Process Research Articles

Evaluating the Role of Public Hearings within Deliberative Democracy: Operationalising the Democratic Standards as a Framework

Public hearings are used widely in policy and decision making. Hearings have been subject to criticisms in some academic quarters. While some of these criticisms are valid, hearings have been overlooked in terms of the democratic value at a relational level. It has been suggested in theory that they are valuable for a deliberative approach to democracy, yet very little evidence exists to support this or to illustrate how hearings can best be utilised as part of a deliberative democratic system. This article contributes to the deliberative literature in two key ways. First, I introduce the democratic standards set out by Smith (2009) in a comparative framework, the Democratic Standard Enactment Index (DSEI), which offers a systematic way to analyse public hearing’s capacity to enact core democratic norms inclusiveness, popular control, transparency and considered judgement. Second, using four case studies, I highlight the strengths and weaknesses of hearings, evaluate how effectively they can be coupled with other democratic institutions, and consider where there are best placed to contribute to a deliberative democratic policy making process. Overall, the democratic norms are consistently fulfilled by the hearings. Their limitations can be overcome by changes to the format and by linking the hearings with other participatory and deliberative processes. The findings provide important nuance to our understanding of the role of public hearings as part of a deliberative democratic system.

From inside the head to putting it on the table – supporting reflexive decision-making for unpaid female carers considering higher education

ABSTRACT When unpaid female carers consider whether to pursue higher education (HE), they frequently experience decision-making uncertainties which stem from the structural and cultural challenges associated with their roles as carers. Reflexivity is a critical part of decision-making, as it empowers individuals to mediate between the present and future within the structural and cultural conditions which impact and guide their actions. To investigate the reflexive deliberation processes unpaid female carers engage in as part of their HE decision-making processes, this study analysed data from an in-depth, qualitative Australian study with 15 unpaid female carers who were considering higher education. Dialogic processes including narrative interviews and a card sort activity made visible the array of mental activities involved in reflexive decision-making by carers. Considering the more and less productive types of reflexive inner conversations which had been identified enabled participants to reflexively adjust the efficacy of some of their decision-making processes. This study contributes to the reflective and career counselling literature by theorising the cognitively and emotionally complex personal and structural demands of HE decision-making. By conceptualising reflexive decision-making anew, unpaid female carers and HE institutions can better identify and address the structural and cultural conditions which may be influencing their HE decision-making.

“You’re Really Stuck”: Housing Strategies and Compromises in the San Francisco Bay Area

Over the past decade, housing prices in many regions of the United States have increased precipitously. This is especially true in the San Francisco Bay Area, a region that has experienced an influx of highly paid tech workers and a tightening of the housing market. Against this backdrop, this article examines the strategies and compromises that a racially and socioeconomically diverse group of Bay Area residents use to maintain housing. Drawing on survey and interview data, the article finds that both homeowners and nonhomeowners described feeling “stuck in place” as prices rose around them. Yet nonhomeowners made greater compromises to maintain housing, including (1) living in structurally inadequate housing; (2) moving in with friends and relatives; and (3) accepting legally precarious living arrangements. Although research on housing often focuses on why families move, this article reconfigures immobility as a deliberate process, documenting the trade-offs families make to keep their homes.

The Washington Climate Assembly: note-taking modalities as deliberative guidance in an online citizens’ assembly

ABSTRACT In this essay, we use applied rhetorical criticism to analyze how facilitators navigate online deliberation in the Washington Climate Assembly, a public deliberation process held virtually in January and February 2021. We draw on interviews with organizers and facilitators and from observational notes taken by the research team during Assembly deliberations. This analysis focuses on the Assembly's online note-taking practices. Previous research has recognized note-taking as an important element to the design of democratic processes, and we argue that note-taking modalities constitute a form of deliberative guidance. We examine the Assembly’s use of note-taking modalities for deliberative guidance across spatial and temporal dimensions, thus expanding the concept of deliberative guidance into other forms of communication. Additionally, results revealing shortcomings in note-taking suggest employing augmented note-taking practices during online public deliberation processes, with implications for scoping, staffing, and budgeting of such processes, as well as the potential application of artificial intelligence.

Great in Theory, but . . .: Planner’s Perceptions of Queensland’s Performance-Based System

Performance-based planning (PBP) is an approach to regulatory planning that aims to achieve strategic objectives without mandating how those objectives are achieved. After more than twenty years of use in Australia, there has been little consideration of planners’ views of PBP. We survey planners about PBP and find that while there is in-principal support, considerable challenges are involved in successful implementation. Our findings highlight the conflicted and politicized landscape in which planners operate and indicate that the specific mechanisms used to deliver planning outcomes are perhaps less important than matters of trust, professionalism, and deliberative processes of plan development.

Forward‐Looking Responsibility and Political Corporate Social Responsibility

AbstractThis paper contributes to the literature on political corporate social responsibility (PCSR) by considering the forward‐looking, political responsibilities of corporations in relation to structural injustice, based on a critical engagement with Iris Marion Young's Social Connection Model (SCM) of responsibility. Although Young's SCM serves as a key reference point in the PCSR literature, engagement with her work tends to be superficial and lacks critical engagement. By offering a more developed engagement with Young's SCM, this paper addresses several themes that have been highlighted as being insufficiently developed in the PCSR literature. In particular, this paper considers (i) the grounds for corporate political responsibility in relation to structural injustice rather than globalization; (ii) the scope of corporate political responsibilities vis‐à‐vis other actors; and (iii) the role of power in relation to deliberative processes and in relation to scope.

Can Deliberation Have Lasting Effects?

Does deliberation produce any lasting effects? “America in One Room” was a national field experiment in which more than 500 randomly selected registered voters were brought from all over the country to deliberate on five major issues facing the country. A pre-post control group was also surveyed on the same questions after the weekend and about a year later. There were significant differences in voting intention and in actual voting behavior a year later among the deliberators compared to the control group. This article accounts for these differences by showing how deliberation stimulated a latent variable of political engagement. If deliberation has lasting effects on political engagement, then it provides a rationale for attempts to scale the deliberative process to much larger numbers. The article considers methods for doing so in the context of the broader debate about mini-publics, isolated spheres of deliberation situated within a largely non-deliberative society.

Epistemic Vice Rehabilitation: Saints and Sinners Zetetic Exemplarism

AbstractThis paper proposes a novel educational approach to epistemic vice rehabilitation. Its authors Gerry Dunne and Alkis Kotsonis note that, like Quassim Cassam, they remain optimistic about the possibility of improvement with regard to epistemic vice. However, unlike Cassam, who places the burden of minimizing or overcoming epistemic vices and their consequences on the individual, Dunne and Kotsonis argue that vice rehabilitation is best tackled via the exemplarist animated community of inquiry zetetic principles and defeasible‐reasons‐regulated deliberative processes. The vice‐reduction method they propose is made up of four distinct yet complementary components: (1) positive exemplarism of epistemic virtue (saints), (2) negative exemplarism of epistemic vice (sinners), (3) direct teaching/instruction, and (4) cognitive apprenticeship. Dunne and Kotsonis argue that this pedagogical intervention appropriately considers learnings deriving from forensic scrutiny of both ideal and non‐ideal interpersonally calibrated zetetic features integral to knowledge acquisition as well as wider societal influences impacting the development of agents' epistemic character. It bridges research on vice epistemology (Cassam's obstructivist theory), social epistemology (corrupted social processes mitigating against vice rehabilitation), virtue epistemology, and moral exemplarism.

Disutility of climate change damages may warrant much stricter climate targets

Cost-benefit integrated assessment models (IAMs) inform the policy deliberation process by determining cost-optimal greenhouse gas emission reduction pathways based on economic considerations. These models seek to maximise economic utility and treat estimates of climate impacts (damages) and mitigation costs at par as GDP losses, having the same impact on utility reduction. However, prospect theory suggests that a certain level of climate damages could be valued higher by society than the same level of mitigation costs, as climate damages often occur as sudden unexpected events. In this paper, we show how this concept could be taken into account in cost-benefit IAMs and explore possible consequences on optimal mitigation pathways. Our results suggest that compared to the standard utility approach, capturing explicit aversion to climate impact incidence shows optimal pathways with earlier and deeper emission reduction, lowering both net-negative emissions and mid-century temperature peaks in line with stringent Paris Agreement targets.

A new conceptual framework for understanding and implementing train-the-trainer professional development on a large scale

ABSTRACT Professional development (PD) is critical to improving practice across all professional fields, including education. However, implementation of PD on a large scale is far from straightforward. Although train-the-trainer (TTT) approaches are widely used, there are numerous recognised weaknesses with implementation and limited analyses of the mechanisms that underlie such PD. In this paper, we propose a new conceptual framework to strengthen the adoption of TTT approaches by addressing three interconnected domains: substantive (content), structural (delivery), and relational (relationships). The framework was derived from analysis of our own approach to PD for teachers, Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR), which has shown significant positive effects for teachers and students through robust research. Our analysis demonstrates that QTR involves deliberate processes in each domain that counter the common weaknesses of TTT approaches. We argue that systematic attention to all three domains of the proposed conceptual framework will bolster successful implementation of PD using TTT approaches.

Creating pathways to just and sustainable food systems with citizen assemblies

Food systems affect and are affected by the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion and health, amongst others. Transforming to sustainable approaches is vital, yet entangled with uncertainties, complexity and a great value diversion with stakeholders. Deliberative processes such as citizen assemblies offer a valuable contribution to such a transformation, since the crises and their responses affect everyday life, and therefore inviting individual and collective action. Still, who is included and whose knowledge counts affects outcomes. Theoretically anchored in concepts of environmental justice, our study analyses three nation-wide citizens’ assemblies on climate change and food systems from Western Europe. It assesses (a) how citizens’ assemblies can incorporate a broad set of viewpoints and design more substantive political answers to current crises, and (b) whether citizens’ assemblies include environmental justice aspects to facilitate social change. The paper argues that systematic and methodologically reflected inclusion of various positionalities can inspire decision-making processes in that they incorporate procedural, recognition, and distributional justice to address problems of climate change or modern food systems. It concludes with offering further approaches to include more than scientific knowledge in deliberative processes for a just transformation towards sustainability.

Shaping new norms for AI.

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly integrated into our lives, the need for new norms is urgent. However, AI evolves at a much faster pace than the characteristic time of norm formation, posing an unprecedented challenge to our societies. This paper examines possible criticalities of the processes of norm formation surrounding AI. It focuses on how new norms can be established, rather than on what these norms should be. It distinguishes different scenarios based on the centralization or decentralization of the norm formation process, analysing the cases where new norms are shaped by formal authorities or informal institutions, or emerge spontaneously in a bottom-up fashion. On the latter point, the paper reports a conversation with ChatGPT in which the LLM discusses some of the emerging norms it has observed. Far from seeking exhaustiveness, this article aims to offer readers interpretive tools to frame society's response to the growing pervasiveness of AI. An outlook on how AI could influence the formation of future social norms emphasizes the importance for open societies to anchor their formal deliberation process in an open, inclusive and transparent public discourse. This article is part of the theme issue 'Social norm change: drivers and consequences'.

Dual-Process Theory of Thought and Inhibitory Control: An ALE Meta-Analysis.

The dual-process theory of thought rests on the co-existence of two different thinking modalities: a quick, automatic, and associative process opposed to a slow, thoughtful, and deliberative process. The increasing interest in determining the neural foundation of the dual-process distinction has yielded mixed results, also given the difficulty of applying the fMRI standard approach to tasks usually employed in the cognitive literature. We report an activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis to investigate the neural foundation of the dual-process theory of thought. Eligible studies allowed for the identification of cerebral areas associated with dual-process theory-based tasks without differentiating between fast and slow thinking. The ALE algorithm converged on the medial frontal cortex, superior frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, insula, and left inferior frontal gyrus. These structures partially overlap with the cerebral areas recurrently reported in the literature about the neural basis of the dual-process distinction, where the PARCS theory-based interpretation emphasizes the role of the right inferior gyrus. The results confirm the potential (but still almost unexplored) common ground between the dual-process literature and the cognitive control literature.

Politics, Good Governance and The Imperative of Leadership Mentoring

The success or failure of governance is determined primarily by the quality of leadership overseeing the affairs of the entity in question. In a democracy, good-governance is berthed when political leadership is nurtured from the onset by a deliberate leadership mentoring process that inculcates the values of transparency, accountability, responsibility, productivity and efficiency on the mentee. This paper in its hypothesis, ties up the three key variables of politics, good governance and leadership mentoring, proffering the latter as the foundational tonic needed to nurture, grow and institutionalise a culture of effective political leadership, good-governance and progressively-working institutions for the benefit of the nation (Nigeria) and its citizens. Case study examples are drawn from the People’s Republic of China and India as nations which have harnessed and optimised suitable leadership mentoring processes to raise and nurture leaders who have gone on to facilitate the growth and development of their respective nations. This paper, which harps on Nigeria, concludes by recommending the institutionalisation of structured leadership-mentoring schemes and their liberalisation nationwide as critical paths to nurturing upcoming and young actors across, political parties, civil society, educational institutions and the society in general, with the requisite leadership ethics, ethos, skill and capacity to positively impact governance for the good and development of the nation.

Toward best practices for trade-security measures

Abstract The global economy is increasingly being weaponized. Citing security concerns from traditional defence to economic competitiveness, health emergency, and climate crisis, states are turning to sanctions, tariffs, export controls, investment screening, and subsidies. But while economic statecraft is becoming common, rules remain scarce. Questions about notice, duration, proportionality, harm minimization, compensation, retaliation, and/or rebalancing lack clear answers and seem almost theoretical. Once, we might have hoped the World Trade Organization (WTO) would play a role in developing such rules. But in the absence of an Appellate Body and in the face of state rejections of review, WTO’s deliberative processes have ground to a halt. This essay argues for a new approach, focused less on adjudicating security disputes than on developing best practices for invoking and using trade security measures. It explains why a new approach is necessary, detailing both how the WTO’s deliberative engine broke down and why dispute settlement is ill-suited to develop guidance now needed. It suggests where and how best practices might be developed, before considering an agenda for such a best practice process. In the end, the hope is a process that can develop expectations—expectations that might make a world of economic statecraft a bit less dangerous.

Involvement of family members of older patients with cancer in triadic decision-making processes during medical consultations on an outpatient ward - an observational exploratory study using quantitative and qualitative methods

IntroductionThere is a growing interest in the involvement of family members of older patients with cancer in decision-making processes. The aim of this study is to identify how and to what extent family members, together with patients and physicians, are involved in triadic decision-making processes in clinical practice. Materials and MethodsThis study was conducted using an exploratory observational design. The Observer Patient Involvement Scale for patients with Multiple Chronicle Conditions (OPTIONMCC) was used to assess the interaction in triadic decision-making between patients, family members, and physicians. Physicians' behaviour was scored on a Likert-scale ranging from 0 (not observed) to 4 (executed to a high standard), while the behaviour of patients and their family members was scored on a scale from 0 (no or minimum participation) to 2 (active participation). Atlas.ti software was used to facilitate coding, and the SPSS statistical analysis platform was used to explore correlations between the shared decision-making (SDM) skills of the physician and the participation of patients and their family members. ResultsIn total, ten physicians performed 25 consultations with older patients and 30 family members. Patients showed higher levels of participation in the SDM process than family members (OPTIONMCC mean scores 0.96 vs 0.61). Physicians' SDM skills were observed at a low or moderate skill level (OPTIONMCC mean score 1.81). Exploratory correlation analysis showed that higher physician scores were related to higher levels of both patients' and family members' involvement in the decision-making process. The level of family members' involvement in SDM varied from no involvement at all to active involvement. Qualitative analysis of family involvement revealed that relatives are likely to: emphasize patients' values and goals of care; inquire about different treatment options; assist in the deliberation process; and ask for clarification of the further medical process. Physicians showed responsive behaviour towards family members but seldom actively involved them in the SDM process. DiscussionThe study findings suggest that there is a need to include strategies to facilitate family involvement in current SDM models for older patients with cancer. Healthcare professionals in geriatric oncology might benefit from additional training covering family dynamics and managing challenging situations.

A capability-approach perspective on regional development

ABSTRACT We argue for a broader and more deliberative regional policymaking process that can be used to better identify the needs of diverse left-behind communities and develop appropriate policies. We argue that the capability approach’s quintessentially inclusive and broad scope, and focus on real opportunities, agency, and process might better address the challenges of regional development. We use these insights to lay out a practical guide for how the capability approach could be used in policymaking, breaking down the implementation approach into steps, and providing examples from a variety of contexts to show how each step might be achieved in practice.

A scenario-drafting study to explore potential future implementation pathways of circulating tumor DNA testing in oncology.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) detection has multiple promising applications in oncology, but the road toward implementation in clinical practice is unclear. We aimed to support the implementation process by exploring potential future pathways of ctDNA testing. To do so, we studied four ctDNA-testing applications in two cancer types and elicited opinions from 30 ctDNA experts in the Netherlands. Our results showed that the current available evidence differed per application and cancer type. Tumor profiling and monitoring treatment response were found most likely to be implemented in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) within 5 years. For colorectal cancer, applications of ctDNA testing were found to be at an early stage in the implementation process. Demonstrating clinical utility was found a key aspect for successful implementation, but there was no consensus regarding the evidence requirements. The next step toward implementation is to define how clinical utility of biomarkers should be evaluated. Finally, these data indicate that specific challenges for each clinical application and tumor type should be appropriately addressed in a deliberative process involving all stakeholders to ensure implementation of ctDNA testing and timely access for patients.

Strategies of state penetration: a network analysis of community governance in Shanghai

IntroductionThe Chinese state has been found to penetrate community participation to strengthen state infrastructure power, but understanding of these strategies remains equivocal.MethodsThis paper collect complete network data from a sample of 112 residents who were active in community activities in Kang community in Shanghai, China. Kang is an award-winning community for its active participation and excellent governance. We examine the strategies of state penetration on the relation between residents' committee (RC) and the thick network through routine community activities.ResultsThe network is indeed horizontal (rather than hierarchical) around the RC. Instead of manifesting state power, popularity within the network translates to decision-making power in deciding routine community activities. However, residents with high network popularity are affiliated with the state, and this association may be generated by the state itself through a deliberate process of cultivation and co-optation.DiscussionThese findings shed light on the nuanced strategies of state penetration. Rather than overt suppression or infiltration, the state exerts authority over a horizontal network, which ensures that self-organized community participation occurs under state domination.

Bandung Sadayana: Partisipasi Digital Masyarakat Kota Bandung dalam Membangun Smart City

The digital era has changed interactions between government and society, especially through wider digital participation and easy access through digital media. Community participation in this context can take the form of decision analysis, involving a process of deliberation and decision structuring to understand community preferences and perspectives. However, this participation is often limited to the later stages of the policy cycle, reducing the public's contribution to policy formation. This research focuses on the digital participation of the people of Bandung City, which is increasingly active through initiatives such as Bandung Sadayana. This platform, through features like Badami Forum, enables citizens to contribute to the development of the city. In the context of smart city development, Bandung faces challenges such as uneven socialization, lack of understanding of the smart city roadmap, and limited infrastructure. The effectiveness of community participation is influenced by a number of factors, including active involvement in planning forums, information transparency, effective communication, and the quality of policy implementation. Recommendations involve expanding digital participation through outreach campaigns, increasing transparency and communication, and focusing on the quality of project implementation.