Report by Oliver Escobar and Stephen Elstub: “Democratic wellbeing means people having voice and choice over decisions that affect their lives. Strengthening parliamentary democracy is essential for improving democratic wellbeing in the UK. This paper supports current efforts to enhance the UK’s four parliaments through deeper public engagement and citizen deliberation. Building a stronger working relationship between parliamentarians and citizens can increase institutional capacity to address the challenges of our time.
Parliaments are expected to navigate complex, long-term and often contentious policy challenges, while maintaining public trust and demonstrating responsiveness to citizens. Yet existing mechanisms for engaging the public in parliamentary policymaking – consultations, surveys, lobbying – often struggle to provide the kind of considered public judgement these challenges require
Why mini-publics?
We focus on mini-publics because they provide a robust and practical way to embed citizen deliberation in legislatures. Mini-publics are civic forums in which a diverse cross-section of the public participates in evidence-based deliberation to inform decision-making. Participants are selected through civic lottery to reflect the wider population and supported with resources to reduce barriers to participation…(More)”.
