What is deliberation?

Citizens’ assemblies are often described as a form of deliberative democracy. What do we mean by this?

What is deliberation?

According to Wikipedia, deliberation is a process of thoughtfully weighing options. It’s a form of respectful discussion, typically conducted in an informed environment, where diverse people try to understand each other, and each other’s opinions, before coming to a decision. It is a way of trying to understand the moral crux of political decisions - the trade-offs and why people have differing priorities. It is not about coming to consensus, but about coming to a respectful appreciation of why opinions may differ.

How does deliberation compare to our current system?

At the moment, in electoral politics, decisions are usually made through political bargaining. This means our politicians offer a combination of incentives and threats to their political rivals to convince a majority of them to support a particular measure. Often there is some quid pro quo (a favour for a favour) and there is little, if any, attempt to deliberate (see above) and understand why people believe what they believe.

Furthermore, political bargaining usually reinforces existing power structures. Those with more power get to make the decisions and continue to exclude those with less power from having any meaningful impact.

Who provides the information?

Citizens’ assemblies usually take place in informed environments. This means that the participants listen to a diverse array of experts and other stakeholders (such as campaign groups, support groups and charities, and directly affected individuals) before making a decision. Ensuring that these experts and stakeholders reflect the broad range of opinion is not simple, but it is possible.

One key point to remember is that the experts are on tap but not on top - the assembly members draw on their knowledge but the experts have no say in the final decisions. Helping assembly members to think critically and recognise (conscious and unconscious) biases may be an important part of this process – see the video above and below.