Embedding deliberation: guiding the use of deliberative mini-publics in climate policy-making

Ainscough, J. and Willis, R. (2024) Embedding deliberation: guiding the use of deliberative mini-publics in climate policy-making. Climate Policy.

Abstract

The use of deliberative mini-publics (DMPs), such as citizens’ assemblies, is becoming more common in climate policy-making across many countries. The upsurge of these methods reflects an acknowledgement of the need to engage the publics in policy choices that significantly impact their lives. Many DMPs to date have focused on the general challenge of decarbonization, across a range of policy areas. In this article, we first situate DMPs within the wider field of public engagement methods. We then draw from deliberative democratic theory and practice to argue that the next step for climate DMPs is to focus them on specific climate policy challenges and to embed and routinize their use in existing policy-making institutions. We present a case study of the targeted use of a climate DMP, which we designed and ran in partnership with the UK Climate Change Committee, focused on home energy decarbonization. We use this case study to explore barriers and challenges to embedding such an approach in climate policy-making institutions. Finally, we suggest ways that such challenges can be overcome and identify a number of tensions that must be navigated as DMPs become embedded in climate policy-making. Key policy insights Deliberative mini-publics (DMPs) can facilitate two-way dialogue between the publics and policy-makers, overcoming weaknesses in existing forms of communication between these two groups of actors. The decision to use DMPs in climate policy and the design of such DMPs, should be informed by an analysis of the type of policy challenge being faced. Existing climate policy institutions, such as advisory bodies, provide potential venues where the use of DMPs can become routinized as a way of gathering insights on public policy preferences. Future targeted climate DMPs will need to find ways to overcome limitations to participants’ familiarity with different technologies and capacities, in order to better predict the impacts of different policy options. Tensions exist between the use of DMPs as a research tool within policy contexts and as a tool for opening political possibilities for more thoroughgoing reform.