Andrea Felicetti | Scuola Normale Superiore (original) (raw)
Books by Andrea Felicetti
Discursive Turns and Critical Junctures: Debating Citizenship after the Charlie Hebdo Attacks
Oxford University Press, 2020
This volume focuses on the debate that developed in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdo... more This volume focuses on the debate that developed in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom after the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket, in January 2015. The book offers an in-depth analysis of the unfolding of the public debate in terms of content of claims making, framing, and justifications as well as the quality (deliberativeness) of the discourses by a variety of actors in the public sphere. The volume features a threefold comparison that considers how the debate differs across countries; how it evolved over time; and how it varies when one looks at mainstream media compared to social movement arenas. Based on a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses, the volume pays particular attention to radical left, radical right, and religious actors and to issues related to migration and integration, secularism and cultural diversity, security and civil rights. Taking its starting point from the infamous attacks of January 2015, this volume aims also at contributing to a theoretical innovation by reflecting on the ways in which transformative events trigger discursive critical junctures.
Citizen deliberation is a fundamental concern for deliberative theories of democracy. Early delib... more Citizen deliberation is a fundamental concern for deliberative theories of democracy. Early deliberative theorists tied the prospects for a democratic society to the possibility of realising democratic deliberation within publics at large, not just institutions. Nonetheless, circumscribed citizens’ or representatives’ assemblies have often been identified as the very loci where democratic deliberation could be pursued. On the other hand, with the exception of some key works, the possibility of deliberation within the public sphere has received less attention. The empirical investigation of the deliberative and democratic qualities in the public sphere remains necessary, as well as an understanding of what aspects may hinder or foster quality discursive engagement.
The increasingly advocated systemic approach to deliberative democracy calls for a refined understanding of organisations in the public sphere. This study provides an investigation of the qualities of citizens’ engagement from a deliberative democratic standpoint. The key concept through which such qualities are investigated is ‘deliberative capacity’, which is seen in terms of the extent to which organisations host authentic, inclusive, and consequential discursive processes. This work, in particular, is based on a comparative study of four grassroots local initiatives, two from Australia (in Tasmania and Queensland) and two from Italy (in Emilia- Romagna and Sicily). The case studies under examination are associated with Transition, a contemporary movement fighting peak oil and resource depletion through the development of community- level activism. This volume has three objectives: refining the idea of deliberative capacity to make it suitable for assessing the deliberative qualities of social movement organisations, understanding the variation of deliberative capacity across the case studies, identifying the overarching dynamics affecting the deliberative capacity of social movement organisations.
Journal Articles by Andrea Felicetti
Researchers are increasingly recognizing that social movements are crucial for realizing delibera... more Researchers are increasingly recognizing that social movements are crucial for realizing deliberative democratic values. However, this raises two important questions: (1) what actions should count as deliberation and (2) whether we should demand more from activists than merely provoking or encouraging deliberation in a society. Building on current research on activists' actual engagement with deliberation, we argue that the standard of taking a "deliberative stance" (being respectful, sincere, and public-minded) is a good starting point for addressing both questions. By taking a deliberative stance, movements benefit from deliberation themselves and contribute to deliberative systems. However, we should also acknowledge that forms of deliberation change, and discovering new forms is a crucial part of what movements do for democracy. We propose to adopt a principle we call "reflective inclusion," which allows us to engage abductively with new actions that might expand and deepen our understanding of what deliberation may look like.
Megaprojects are increasingly common across countries and attract substantial political attention... more Megaprojects are increasingly common across countries and attract substantial political attention from a variety of actors. Recent studies have highlighted the need to move from an understanding of megaprojects as linear and rational processes towards a more nuanced approach that accounts for non-linear and conflictual aspects. Participatory governance is often proposed as a valuable resource in this regard. In this paper, we investigate the setting and design of two participatory venues operating in the context of the implementation of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway megaproject: the Italian Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and the French Public Inquiry. Empirical evidence shows that the Italian case featured substantial structural barriers to effective democratic participation. As for the French case, while better designed and implanted in its context, it featured important agentic limitations that undermined its democratic potential. On the basis of our case study, we therefore argue that both the Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and Public Inquiry failed to promote democratic participation. We thus propose a deliberative approach to (the study of) of megaprojects. Whereas deliberative democratic ideas command growing interest across disciplines, these have found only limited application in the study of megaprojects. We contend that a deliberative democratic approach holds promise to improve the democratic and epistemic qualities of decision making on megaprojects.
Learning from Democratic Practices: New Perspectives in Institutional Design
The Journal of Politics, 2021
Contemporary democracies feature an increasingly diverse and complex variety of democratic practi... more Contemporary democracies feature an increasingly diverse and complex variety of democratic practices. The systematic observation of these practices offers a valuable yet neglected source of insight for current debates on democratic systems and
for institutional design. Taking democratic practices as the starting point for theorization counters the tendency to think that democracy has some sort of fixed core around which a political system should be organized. Drawing from literature on democratic practices in social movements and democratic innovations, I illustrate three ways to advance institutional design in the wake of the systemic turn. First, I call for greater attention to the role of political actors in institutional innovation. Second, I show howto better address issues of temporality in institutional design. Third, I introduce the concept of democratic
assemblage as a means to understand and reform democracies.
Environmental Values, 2020
Resilient socioeconomic unsustainability poses a threat to democracy whose importance has yet to ... more Resilient socioeconomic unsustainability poses a threat to democracy whose importance has yet to be fully acknowledged. As the prospect of sustainability transition wanes, so does perceived legitimacy of institutions. This further limits representative institutions' ability to take action, making democratic deepening all the more urgent. I investigate this argument through an illustrative case study, the 2017 People's Climate March. In a context of resilient unsustainability, protesters have little expectation that institutions might address the ecological crisis and this view is likely to spread. New ways of thinking about this problem and a new research agenda are needed.
European Journal of Political Research
A prominent explanation of widespread popular support for referendums is dissatisfaction with the... more A prominent explanation of widespread popular support for referendums is dissatisfaction with the functioning of representative democracy. In this paper, we aim to gain a better understanding of how dissatisfaction affects support for referendums. Drawing on Warren (2017) we argue that citizens follow a problem-based approach in their support for referendums, in that referendums are considered a suitable solution to address some specific problems in a political system but not all. We use survey data from the 2012 European Social Survey (29 countries; N= 37,070) to show that citizens' expectations towards and evaluations of representatives relate to support for referendums. In This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Representation Journal of Representative Democracy, 2019
This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas ... more This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.
European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology , 2017
Historical New England Town Meetings have long had an important role in the collective imaginary ... more Historical New England Town Meetings have long had an important role in the collective imaginary as exemplary models of democratic participation. However, scholarly investigation has pointed to important limitations with respect to the democratic credentials of these assemblies. In this paper, we engage with recent theorising from deliberative democracy to provide an updated historical examination of the deliberative and democratic qualities of Town Meetings from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. We show that Town Meetings provided a space to engage in meaningful deliberation in the context of settlers’ communities. Nonetheless, through analyses using the notions of deliberative culture and group style, we show that these communities featured deep anti-democratic norms that curtailed the democratic potential of these assemblies.
The increasing centrality of business firms in contemporary societies calls for a renewed attenti... more The increasing centrality of business firms in contemporary societies calls for a renewed attention to the democratization of these actors. This paper sheds new light on the possibility of democratizing business firms by bridging recent scholarship in two fields—deliberative democracy and business ethics. To date, deliberative democracy has largely neglected the role of business firms in democratic societies. While business ethics scholarship has given more attention to these issues, it has overlooked the possibility of deliberation within firms. As argued in the paper, a combination of reforms based on the ideas of workplace deliberation and business deliberation is necessary in order to promote the prospect of deliberation in different business contexts. The paper also discusses the importance of more democratic firms for deliberative democracy at large and, in particular, for the recent debate on deliberative systems. Finally, the paper suggests new areas of investigation to better understand the prospect of democratic deliberation in business firms.
This article argues for the assessment of deliberative mini-publics as a dynamic part of a wider ... more This article argues for the assessment of deliberative mini-publics as a dynamic part of a wider deliberative system. The approach draws primarily on Dryzek’s (2009) deliberative capacity building framework, which describes the democratic process as ideally involving authentic deliberation, inclusiveness in the deliberative process, and consequentiality or deliberation’s influence on decisions as well as positive impact on the system. This approach is illustrated using the comparative assessment of two mini-public case studies: the Australian Citizens’ Parliament and Italy’s Iniziativa di Revisione Civica (Civic Revision Initiative). The application of deliberative capacity as a standard for evaluating mini-publics in systemic terms reveals differences between the cases. The deliberative capacity of both cases overlap, but they do so for different reasons that stem from the interconnections between their specific designs and other components of the deliberative system.
This article explores the relationship between localism and contemporary community engagement. In... more This article explores the relationship between localism and contemporary community engagement. In particular, it focuses on the Transition movement, an especially interesting case, given its localistic and community-oriented nature. The article begins with a short discussion of more traditional conceptions of localism. Subsequently, it examines Transition and discusses the relation between the movement and localism. It is argued that, despite some overlap, the relationship between localism and community groups like Transition Initiatives is problematic for theoretical and practical reasons. The ideas underpinning localist reforms and the Transition movement seem to differ widely, and these divergences do emerge in important discussions within the movement, a point illustrated here by a brief overview of the debate about the Big Society in the UK. At the same time, as the four case studies of Transitions in Australia and Italy show, there are also more practical concerns. Here, an initial problem is that there is a tension between the movement's open approach to institutional practice and actual everyday practice. The participants' frustration with, and scepticism towards, politics shapes the nature of their collaboration with councils. Indeed, often, the efforts of one (or very few) participants, rather than of the broader community, may underpin the relationship between the Transition movement and local institutions. Moreover, whilst groups may seek to tackle this problem and engage with communities, local institutions seem to encourage only limited, and sometimes problematic, interactions with community organisations. To the extent that localist agendas do not address these shortcomings, it seems unlikely that they will be able to promote deeper engagement between community organisations and local institutions.
This article analyzes contemporary democracies from a deliberative democratic standpoint and focu... more This article analyzes contemporary democracies from a deliberative democratic standpoint and focuses on the connection between public and empowered spaces. The idea of deliberative systems and the concept of "transmission" are introduced to discuss the ways in which the public is able to affect the empowered spaces. While elections perform important democratic functions, alone they cannot provide a good quality means for connecting deliberation in the public to that of actors in the empowered space. The problem with transmission is exacerbated to the extent that alternative forms of participation are neglected. The limited ability of the public to affect the empowered space in deliberative and democratic ways contributes to the crisis of democratic systems. One solution to this problem is to acknowledge the role of citizens' deliberation. The article argues for the systematic introduction of spaces for citizens' deliberation that would parallel existing decision-making.
This paper examines the role of collective identity and collective voice in political life. We ar... more This paper examines the role of collective identity and collective voice in political life. We argue that persons
have an underlying predisposition to use collective dimensions, such as common identities and a public voice,
in thinking and expressing themselves politically. This collective orientation, however, can be either fostered
or weakened by citizens’ political experiences. Although the collective level is an important dimension in
contemporary politics, conventional democratic practices do not foster it. Deliberative democracy is
suggested as an environment that might allow more ground for citizens to express themselves not only in
individual but also in collective terms. We examine this theoretical perspective through a case study of the
Australian Citizens’ Parliament, in which transcripts are analyzed to determine the extent to which collective
identities and common voice surfaced in actual discourse. We analyze the dynamics involved in the advent of
collective dimensions in the deliberative process and highlight the factors—deliberation, nature of the
discussion, and exceptional opportunity—that potentially facilitated the rise of group identities and common
voice. In spite of the strong individualistic character of the Australian cultural identity, we nonetheless found
evidence of both collective identity and voice at the Citizens’ Parliament, expressed in terms of national, state,
and community levels. In the conclusion, we discuss the implications of those findings for future research and
practice of public deliberation.
Active citizen participation is increasingly being recognized as essential to effective... more Active citizen participation is increasingly being recognized as essential to effective public policy making. A key challenge for public administrators is how to effectively engage constituents’ diverse viewpoints in sound deliberation that will likely result incoherent, agreed judgments. This paper investigates one such public deliberation process, Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament, which brought together 150 randomly sampled Australian citizens charged with the task of formulating concrete policy proposals to be considered by the Federal government. One unexpected outcome of this initiative, especially given Australian ambivalence about nationalism, was the emergence of a shared identity among participants that appeared to bridge cultural and geographical divides. We explore linkages between salient elements of the deliberative process, the emergence of a sense of ‘being Australian’, and the final agreed list of policy recommendations that indicated an understanding of and commitment to the ‘common good’. If the emergence of a shared identity is acknowledged as a key to the development of a coherent public voice, then further examination of these linkages will be critical to the efficacy of future public deliberations.Moreover, given the heterogeneous nature of the Australian electorate and the challenges inherent in the country’s federal governance structure, the findings have significant implications for policymakers in similar constituencies, notably the EU and the USA.
This article advances one of the most important debates in recent scholarship on democratic theor... more This article advances one of the most important debates in recent scholarship on democratic theory: the one on deliberative systems. In the wake of the systemic turn deliberative scholars agree that not all components of a deliberative system can or even need to be deliberative. However, there is little clarity about the role of non-deliberative politics in a system and to what extent these are justifiable while we seek a more deliberative society. In this paper I first illustrate the main ideas of the systemic turn, explore the distinction between 'deliberative' and 'non-deliberative' politics and investigate the main arguments justifying non-deliberative politics. Then, I build upon these arguments to shed new light on the relationship between deliberative and non-deliberative politics. I identify three distinctive actors in deliberative systems (political institutions, empowered agents, and public space actors). Finally, I argue that deliberative democrats should adopt three different approaches (intensive, moderate, and free) in order to assess whether the use of non-deliberative politics by each of these actors is legitimate.
This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas ... more This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.
Discursive Turns and Critical Junctures: Debating Citizenship after the Charlie Hebdo Attacks
Oxford University Press, 2020
This volume focuses on the debate that developed in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdo... more This volume focuses on the debate that developed in France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom after the terrorist attacks against Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket, in January 2015. The book offers an in-depth analysis of the unfolding of the public debate in terms of content of claims making, framing, and justifications as well as the quality (deliberativeness) of the discourses by a variety of actors in the public sphere. The volume features a threefold comparison that considers how the debate differs across countries; how it evolved over time; and how it varies when one looks at mainstream media compared to social movement arenas. Based on a triangulation of quantitative and qualitative analyses, the volume pays particular attention to radical left, radical right, and religious actors and to issues related to migration and integration, secularism and cultural diversity, security and civil rights. Taking its starting point from the infamous attacks of January 2015, this volume aims also at contributing to a theoretical innovation by reflecting on the ways in which transformative events trigger discursive critical junctures.
Citizen deliberation is a fundamental concern for deliberative theories of democracy. Early delib... more Citizen deliberation is a fundamental concern for deliberative theories of democracy. Early deliberative theorists tied the prospects for a democratic society to the possibility of realising democratic deliberation within publics at large, not just institutions. Nonetheless, circumscribed citizens’ or representatives’ assemblies have often been identified as the very loci where democratic deliberation could be pursued. On the other hand, with the exception of some key works, the possibility of deliberation within the public sphere has received less attention. The empirical investigation of the deliberative and democratic qualities in the public sphere remains necessary, as well as an understanding of what aspects may hinder or foster quality discursive engagement.
The increasingly advocated systemic approach to deliberative democracy calls for a refined understanding of organisations in the public sphere. This study provides an investigation of the qualities of citizens’ engagement from a deliberative democratic standpoint. The key concept through which such qualities are investigated is ‘deliberative capacity’, which is seen in terms of the extent to which organisations host authentic, inclusive, and consequential discursive processes. This work, in particular, is based on a comparative study of four grassroots local initiatives, two from Australia (in Tasmania and Queensland) and two from Italy (in Emilia- Romagna and Sicily). The case studies under examination are associated with Transition, a contemporary movement fighting peak oil and resource depletion through the development of community- level activism. This volume has three objectives: refining the idea of deliberative capacity to make it suitable for assessing the deliberative qualities of social movement organisations, understanding the variation of deliberative capacity across the case studies, identifying the overarching dynamics affecting the deliberative capacity of social movement organisations.
Researchers are increasingly recognizing that social movements are crucial for realizing delibera... more Researchers are increasingly recognizing that social movements are crucial for realizing deliberative democratic values. However, this raises two important questions: (1) what actions should count as deliberation and (2) whether we should demand more from activists than merely provoking or encouraging deliberation in a society. Building on current research on activists' actual engagement with deliberation, we argue that the standard of taking a "deliberative stance" (being respectful, sincere, and public-minded) is a good starting point for addressing both questions. By taking a deliberative stance, movements benefit from deliberation themselves and contribute to deliberative systems. However, we should also acknowledge that forms of deliberation change, and discovering new forms is a crucial part of what movements do for democracy. We propose to adopt a principle we call "reflective inclusion," which allows us to engage abductively with new actions that might expand and deepen our understanding of what deliberation may look like.
Megaprojects are increasingly common across countries and attract substantial political attention... more Megaprojects are increasingly common across countries and attract substantial political attention from a variety of actors. Recent studies have highlighted the need to move from an understanding of megaprojects as linear and rational processes towards a more nuanced approach that accounts for non-linear and conflictual aspects. Participatory governance is often proposed as a valuable resource in this regard. In this paper, we investigate the setting and design of two participatory venues operating in the context of the implementation of the Lyon-Turin high-speed railway megaproject: the Italian Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and the French Public Inquiry. Empirical evidence shows that the Italian case featured substantial structural barriers to effective democratic participation. As for the French case, while better designed and implanted in its context, it featured important agentic limitations that undermined its democratic potential. On the basis of our case study, we therefore argue that both the Observatory for the Turin-Lyon Railway and Public Inquiry failed to promote democratic participation. We thus propose a deliberative approach to (the study of) of megaprojects. Whereas deliberative democratic ideas command growing interest across disciplines, these have found only limited application in the study of megaprojects. We contend that a deliberative democratic approach holds promise to improve the democratic and epistemic qualities of decision making on megaprojects.
Learning from Democratic Practices: New Perspectives in Institutional Design
The Journal of Politics, 2021
Contemporary democracies feature an increasingly diverse and complex variety of democratic practi... more Contemporary democracies feature an increasingly diverse and complex variety of democratic practices. The systematic observation of these practices offers a valuable yet neglected source of insight for current debates on democratic systems and
for institutional design. Taking democratic practices as the starting point for theorization counters the tendency to think that democracy has some sort of fixed core around which a political system should be organized. Drawing from literature on democratic practices in social movements and democratic innovations, I illustrate three ways to advance institutional design in the wake of the systemic turn. First, I call for greater attention to the role of political actors in institutional innovation. Second, I show howto better address issues of temporality in institutional design. Third, I introduce the concept of democratic
assemblage as a means to understand and reform democracies.
Environmental Values, 2020
Resilient socioeconomic unsustainability poses a threat to democracy whose importance has yet to ... more Resilient socioeconomic unsustainability poses a threat to democracy whose importance has yet to be fully acknowledged. As the prospect of sustainability transition wanes, so does perceived legitimacy of institutions. This further limits representative institutions' ability to take action, making democratic deepening all the more urgent. I investigate this argument through an illustrative case study, the 2017 People's Climate March. In a context of resilient unsustainability, protesters have little expectation that institutions might address the ecological crisis and this view is likely to spread. New ways of thinking about this problem and a new research agenda are needed.
European Journal of Political Research
A prominent explanation of widespread popular support for referendums is dissatisfaction with the... more A prominent explanation of widespread popular support for referendums is dissatisfaction with the functioning of representative democracy. In this paper, we aim to gain a better understanding of how dissatisfaction affects support for referendums. Drawing on Warren (2017) we argue that citizens follow a problem-based approach in their support for referendums, in that referendums are considered a suitable solution to address some specific problems in a political system but not all. We use survey data from the 2012 European Social Survey (29 countries; N= 37,070) to show that citizens' expectations towards and evaluations of representatives relate to support for referendums. In This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Representation Journal of Representative Democracy, 2019
This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas ... more This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.
European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology , 2017
Historical New England Town Meetings have long had an important role in the collective imaginary ... more Historical New England Town Meetings have long had an important role in the collective imaginary as exemplary models of democratic participation. However, scholarly investigation has pointed to important limitations with respect to the democratic credentials of these assemblies. In this paper, we engage with recent theorising from deliberative democracy to provide an updated historical examination of the deliberative and democratic qualities of Town Meetings from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. We show that Town Meetings provided a space to engage in meaningful deliberation in the context of settlers’ communities. Nonetheless, through analyses using the notions of deliberative culture and group style, we show that these communities featured deep anti-democratic norms that curtailed the democratic potential of these assemblies.
The increasing centrality of business firms in contemporary societies calls for a renewed attenti... more The increasing centrality of business firms in contemporary societies calls for a renewed attention to the democratization of these actors. This paper sheds new light on the possibility of democratizing business firms by bridging recent scholarship in two fields—deliberative democracy and business ethics. To date, deliberative democracy has largely neglected the role of business firms in democratic societies. While business ethics scholarship has given more attention to these issues, it has overlooked the possibility of deliberation within firms. As argued in the paper, a combination of reforms based on the ideas of workplace deliberation and business deliberation is necessary in order to promote the prospect of deliberation in different business contexts. The paper also discusses the importance of more democratic firms for deliberative democracy at large and, in particular, for the recent debate on deliberative systems. Finally, the paper suggests new areas of investigation to better understand the prospect of democratic deliberation in business firms.
This article argues for the assessment of deliberative mini-publics as a dynamic part of a wider ... more This article argues for the assessment of deliberative mini-publics as a dynamic part of a wider deliberative system. The approach draws primarily on Dryzek’s (2009) deliberative capacity building framework, which describes the democratic process as ideally involving authentic deliberation, inclusiveness in the deliberative process, and consequentiality or deliberation’s influence on decisions as well as positive impact on the system. This approach is illustrated using the comparative assessment of two mini-public case studies: the Australian Citizens’ Parliament and Italy’s Iniziativa di Revisione Civica (Civic Revision Initiative). The application of deliberative capacity as a standard for evaluating mini-publics in systemic terms reveals differences between the cases. The deliberative capacity of both cases overlap, but they do so for different reasons that stem from the interconnections between their specific designs and other components of the deliberative system.
This article explores the relationship between localism and contemporary community engagement. In... more This article explores the relationship between localism and contemporary community engagement. In particular, it focuses on the Transition movement, an especially interesting case, given its localistic and community-oriented nature. The article begins with a short discussion of more traditional conceptions of localism. Subsequently, it examines Transition and discusses the relation between the movement and localism. It is argued that, despite some overlap, the relationship between localism and community groups like Transition Initiatives is problematic for theoretical and practical reasons. The ideas underpinning localist reforms and the Transition movement seem to differ widely, and these divergences do emerge in important discussions within the movement, a point illustrated here by a brief overview of the debate about the Big Society in the UK. At the same time, as the four case studies of Transitions in Australia and Italy show, there are also more practical concerns. Here, an initial problem is that there is a tension between the movement's open approach to institutional practice and actual everyday practice. The participants' frustration with, and scepticism towards, politics shapes the nature of their collaboration with councils. Indeed, often, the efforts of one (or very few) participants, rather than of the broader community, may underpin the relationship between the Transition movement and local institutions. Moreover, whilst groups may seek to tackle this problem and engage with communities, local institutions seem to encourage only limited, and sometimes problematic, interactions with community organisations. To the extent that localist agendas do not address these shortcomings, it seems unlikely that they will be able to promote deeper engagement between community organisations and local institutions.
This article analyzes contemporary democracies from a deliberative democratic standpoint and focu... more This article analyzes contemporary democracies from a deliberative democratic standpoint and focuses on the connection between public and empowered spaces. The idea of deliberative systems and the concept of "transmission" are introduced to discuss the ways in which the public is able to affect the empowered spaces. While elections perform important democratic functions, alone they cannot provide a good quality means for connecting deliberation in the public to that of actors in the empowered space. The problem with transmission is exacerbated to the extent that alternative forms of participation are neglected. The limited ability of the public to affect the empowered space in deliberative and democratic ways contributes to the crisis of democratic systems. One solution to this problem is to acknowledge the role of citizens' deliberation. The article argues for the systematic introduction of spaces for citizens' deliberation that would parallel existing decision-making.
This paper examines the role of collective identity and collective voice in political life. We ar... more This paper examines the role of collective identity and collective voice in political life. We argue that persons
have an underlying predisposition to use collective dimensions, such as common identities and a public voice,
in thinking and expressing themselves politically. This collective orientation, however, can be either fostered
or weakened by citizens’ political experiences. Although the collective level is an important dimension in
contemporary politics, conventional democratic practices do not foster it. Deliberative democracy is
suggested as an environment that might allow more ground for citizens to express themselves not only in
individual but also in collective terms. We examine this theoretical perspective through a case study of the
Australian Citizens’ Parliament, in which transcripts are analyzed to determine the extent to which collective
identities and common voice surfaced in actual discourse. We analyze the dynamics involved in the advent of
collective dimensions in the deliberative process and highlight the factors—deliberation, nature of the
discussion, and exceptional opportunity—that potentially facilitated the rise of group identities and common
voice. In spite of the strong individualistic character of the Australian cultural identity, we nonetheless found
evidence of both collective identity and voice at the Citizens’ Parliament, expressed in terms of national, state,
and community levels. In the conclusion, we discuss the implications of those findings for future research and
practice of public deliberation.
Active citizen participation is increasingly being recognized as essential to effective... more Active citizen participation is increasingly being recognized as essential to effective public policy making. A key challenge for public administrators is how to effectively engage constituents’ diverse viewpoints in sound deliberation that will likely result incoherent, agreed judgments. This paper investigates one such public deliberation process, Australia’s first Citizens’ Parliament, which brought together 150 randomly sampled Australian citizens charged with the task of formulating concrete policy proposals to be considered by the Federal government. One unexpected outcome of this initiative, especially given Australian ambivalence about nationalism, was the emergence of a shared identity among participants that appeared to bridge cultural and geographical divides. We explore linkages between salient elements of the deliberative process, the emergence of a sense of ‘being Australian’, and the final agreed list of policy recommendations that indicated an understanding of and commitment to the ‘common good’. If the emergence of a shared identity is acknowledged as a key to the development of a coherent public voice, then further examination of these linkages will be critical to the efficacy of future public deliberations.Moreover, given the heterogeneous nature of the Australian electorate and the challenges inherent in the country’s federal governance structure, the findings have significant implications for policymakers in similar constituencies, notably the EU and the USA.
This article advances one of the most important debates in recent scholarship on democratic theor... more This article advances one of the most important debates in recent scholarship on democratic theory: the one on deliberative systems. In the wake of the systemic turn deliberative scholars agree that not all components of a deliberative system can or even need to be deliberative. However, there is little clarity about the role of non-deliberative politics in a system and to what extent these are justifiable while we seek a more deliberative society. In this paper I first illustrate the main ideas of the systemic turn, explore the distinction between 'deliberative' and 'non-deliberative' politics and investigate the main arguments justifying non-deliberative politics. Then, I build upon these arguments to shed new light on the relationship between deliberative and non-deliberative politics. I identify three distinctive actors in deliberative systems (political institutions, empowered agents, and public space actors). Finally, I argue that deliberative democrats should adopt three different approaches (intensive, moderate, and free) in order to assess whether the use of non-deliberative politics by each of these actors is legitimate.
This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas ... more This article offers a theoretical and empirical investigation of marginality of actors and ideas in democratic systems. We do so with respect to the extensive public debate that ensued from the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks of January 2015. Using content analytical data retrieved from The Guardian, we assess the degree and nature of marginality as indicated by the presence of different types of intervention in the public debate. Our findings show that women very limited visibility; religious and minority groups—particularly Muslims—are sidestepped; and actors challenging the dominant securitisation narrative are systematically neglected by those holding dominant positions. We argue for greater attention to the problem of marginality and introduce the Maximin principle of marginality as a means to address this issue in analyses of democratic systems.
Notwithstanding notable exceptions, historical investigation is far from central in deliberative ... more Notwithstanding notable exceptions, historical investigation is far from central in deliberative scholarship and even recent work on participatory research stresses the need for more historical work. The aim of our introduction to this collective volume is to assess and to draw attention to the contribution of historical analysis in the current scholarly debate on democracy, in particular regarding the ways in which participation and deliberation emerge and develop in New England's famous town meetings. Town meetings have traditionally been cited as one of the fullest and earliest realizations of the idea of democratic government and of deliberation at work. Nowadays the great debate on deliberative and participatory democracy has contributed to restoring the town meetings as a symbol of democratic deliberation. The critical study of how one of the oldest and most inspiring forms of democratic participation has evolved is not only a fascinating endeavor in itself, it is also a unique opportunity to better understand how and to what extent these institutional practices, inspired by ideals of deliberation and participation, can support -or impede -the democratization of today's societies.
Joining Forces: The Sortition Chamber from a Social Movement Perspective
Legislature by Lot: Transformative Designs for Deliberative Governance, 2019
Becoming Australian: Forging a National Identity. In The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy
Speaking together: Giving voice to collective identities. In The Australian Citizens’ Parliament and the Future of Deliberative Democracy
Une utopie peu délibérative (PUL 2015)
Chemins d'Utopie. Thomas More à Louvain, 1516-2016, 2015