Mini-Publics and the Wider Public: The Perceived Legitimacy of Randomly Selecting Citizen Representatives

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Abstract

There are two important dimensions to the membership of mini-publics that are distinct from the membership of conventional representative institutions: the selection mechanism (sortition) and the profile of the body's eligible membership (‘ordinary’ citizens). This article examines the effects of these design features on perceived legitimacy. A survey experiment in the deeply divided context of Northern Ireland finds no evidence that variation in mini-public selection features has an overall effect on perceived legitimacy, but there are important individual-level differences.
Original languageEnglish
JournalRepresentation
Early online date10 Feb 2021
DOIs
Publication statusEarly online date - 10 Feb 2021

Keywords

  • deliberative mini-publics
  • sortition
  • legitimacy
  • representation
  • democratic innovations

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