They also facilitated regional enclave discussions (as described in the “Facilitation” section below) ahead of the deliberation to identify feasible policy strategies and co-design the questions that the deliberative poll would ask of the public.

power asymmetries can affect two important stages of the deliberative process (recruitment and facilitation)

the essential work of creating systems that genuinely work for everyone requires us to redistribute resources and grant power to those who have been denied it—something that deliberation can help to achieve alongside other political organizing. Deliberation alone will not create a more equal society, and the outcomes of such processes are... See more

testimony is often embraced as a legitimate and meaningful contribution to deliberations. This is not to say that people with less are less capable of producing rational arguments, but rather to acknowledge that emotional appeals and the relation of lived experiences are crucial parts of argumentation.

Ultimately, the essential work of creating systems that genuinely work for everyone requires us to redistribute resources and grant power to those who have been denied it—something that deliberation can help to achieve alongside other political organizing. Deliberation alone will not create a more equal society, and the outcomes of such processes... See more

Storytelling and emotional appeals are frequently encouraged as a way to communicate in deliberative settings, given that they are common ways for people to communicate and therefore level the playing field.

RepresentationOne of the most crucial elements of a deliberative process is a deceptively simple question: Who’s in the room?

Beyond sortition, a savvy practitioner might consider ways to more actively bring in people who are socially disadvantaged. These strategies include minimizing barriers to participation, recruiting through trusted messengers, and partnering with associations in the community. Best practices for more involved deliberative processes often include... See more

Even the way people give and receive arguments is coded by cultural norms; the default expectation of “rational” deliberation has been challenged by various scholars, who argue that those who regularly engage that way are often whiter, more educated, and more economically well off. As such, deliberative processes still often proceed along lines of... See more