The Micro Processes of Citizen Jury Deliberation: Implications for Deliberative Democracy

Despite the growing popularity of the citizen jury and other deliberative democratic approaches to public participation, there is no agreement on the method for evaluating them, nor even agreement on where evaluation should be applied, inputs, outputs or process. To evaluate its efficacy, this study convened a citizen jury to deliberate on waste management issues in a provincial Australian city. After considering the theory of deliberative democracy, the paper identifies six criteria and applies relevant anlytical methods. The primary form of analysis is a sample of transcripts of jury deliberations used to examine the micro processes of the deliberative processes. This was supplemented by pre- and post-jury surveys as well participant observation. The outcomes reveal that the micro-processes of jury deliberation were often characterised by unequal forms of interaction, poor focus on outcomes, and limited use fo available knowledge. Nonetheless, the paper argues that deliberative processes do have a role to play in contemporary democracies.