DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY AND MINI-PUBLICS

The increasing use of mini-publics in the policy process, ranging from citizens' juries and deliberative polls to the more recent British Columbia Citizens' Assembly, has coincided with the emergence of theories of deliberative democracy. A growing number of deliberative democrats have turned their attention to mini-publics arguing that they embody desirable institutional characteristics. This article analyses the extent to which mini-publics live up to the deliberative ideal and the ways in which the analysis of the practice of mini-publics allows us to reflect on the evaluative commitments of theorists.