Undergraduate Module Descriptor

POL2120: Democratic Innovations, Deliberation and Public Policy

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The main objective of the module is to equip you with knowledge of deliberative democratic innovations, their theoretical roots, their potential and their limitations. You will develop a critical understanding of deliberative democracy, and its applications. We will assess democratic innovations from the perspective of participants who have engaged in them, as well as those who have facilitated, commissioned and organised them. We examine what impact these innovations have had on policy, using examples from policy fields such as environmental policy, abortion, equal marriage and electoral reform.  We explore how inclusive these democratic innovations really are, whether they live up to claims about representativeness, as well as questions surrounding their legitimacy and impact. We also consider how these innovations can be coupled with systems of representative politics and issues of how we assess deliberative ‘quality’.  We focus on a variety of ‘mini publics’, such as citizen’s assemblies, citizen’s juries, village assemblies, deliberative polls, and participatory budgeting, as well as online deliberation, interest in which has increased significantly since the covid pandemic. The module convenor will draw on her own experience in conducting and researching deliberative public engagement. 

The module will provide you with both practical and theoretical understanding of these forms of democratic innovation which will be invaluable if you are considering a career in public policy, politics, local or central government or the NGO sector where these approaches to public participation are increasingly used. You will also develop in-depth case specific knowledge of a particular innovation of your choosing, and will practice and enhance your own deliberation skills using moderated online discussion forums during the course.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. discuss the rationale and arguments that advocates of deliberative democracy make for democratic innovations and the counter arguments by sceptics
2. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a variety of democratic innovations, including their purpose, strengths and limitations
3. articulate key principles in the design of effective deliberative processes
4. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the role of the ways in which deliberative democratic innovations are used within public policy
Discipline-Specific Skills5. apply concepts, theories and methods used in the study of politics to the analysis of political ideas, institutions and practices
6. demonstrate knowledge and understanding of different political institutions; the nature and distribution of power relationships within and between them; the social, economic, historical and cultural contexts within which they operate
Personal and Key Skills7. construct reasoned argument, synthesise relevant information and exercise critical judgement
8. gather, organise and deploy evidence, data and information from a variety of sources

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Text books/key books

  • Escobar, O. and Elstub, S.  Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance. Cheltenham, U.K. and Northampton, M.A., USA: Edward Elgar.
  • Geissel, B. and Newton, K. (eds), Evaluating Democratic Innovations. Curing the Democratic Malaise?, London and New York: Routledge.
  • Smith, G. (2009) Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sample of articles 

  • Andersen, V. N. and Hansen, K. M. (2007). How Deliberation Makes Better Citizens: The Danish Deliberative Poll on the Euro. European Journal of Political Research, 46: 531–56.
  • Böker, M. (2017). Justification, Critique and Deliberative Legitimacy: The Limits of Mini-Publics. Contemporary Political Theory, 16: 19–40.
  • Bo?ker, M. and S. Elstub (2015), ‘The possibility of critical mini-publics: Realpolitik and normative cycles in democratic theory’, Representation.
  • Avritzer, L. 2012. ‘The different designs of public participation in Brazil’, Critical Policy Studies. 6:2 113-127
  • Dryzek, J. S., Bächtiger, A., & Milewicz, K. (2011). ‘Toward a deliberative global citizens’ assembly.’ Global Policy, 2(1), 33-42.
  • Dryzek, J.S., Bächtiger, A., Chambers, S., Cohen, J., Druckman, J.N., Felicetti, A. Warren, M.E. 2019.‘The crisis of democracy and the science of deliberation’.Science, 363(6432),1144-46. .
  • Fishkin, J. (2020). Cristina Lafont’s Challenge to Deliberative Minipublics. Journal of Deliberative Democracy, 16(2), 56–62. DOI: http://doi.org/10.16997/jdd.394
  • Goodin, R.E. & Dryzek, J.S. 2006. ‘Deliberative Impacts: The Macro-Political Uptake of Mini-Publics’. Politics & Society, 34: 2, 219-244. 
  • Grönlund, K., Herne, K., and Setälä, M. (2015). Does Enclave Deliberation Polarize Opinions? Political Behavior, 37: 995–1020.
  • Hendriks, C. M. (2016). Coupling Citizens and Elites in Deliberative Systems: The Role of Institutional Design. European Journal of Political Research, 55: 43–60.
  • Lafont, C. (2015). Deliberation, Participation and Democratic Legitimacy: Should Deliberative Minipublics Shape Public Policy? Journal of Political Philosophy, 23: 40–63.
  • Lafont, C. 2017. Can Democracy be Deliberative & Participatory? The Democratic Case for Political Uses of Mini-Publics, Daedalus , 146:3, 85-105. https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/full/10.1162/DAED_a_00449#fn9
  • Parthasarathy, Ramya; Rao, Vijayendra. 2017. Deliberative Democracy in India. Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7995. World Bank, Washington, DC. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/26245 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
  • Strandberg, K. and Grönlund, K. (2018) ‘Online deliberation’, In Andre Bächtiger, John S. Dryzek, Jane Mansbridge, and Mark Warren (Eds), The Oxford Handbook of deliberative Democracy.