Disagreement and Deliberation: Evidence from Three Deliberative Mini-Publics

Abstract This article is based on three experiments in citizen deliberation. We ask whether disagreement at group level as well individual influence participants’ experiences of In all experiments, participants discussed small groups and answered surveys before after deliberations. The were population-based with random selection. topic the first deliberation was nuclear power, second dealt immigration, third concerned policies for a language spoken by national minority. degree subject to experimental manipulation. experiment, mixed opinions. categorized according their baseline views, then randomly allocated into either or like-minded groups. everyone A trained facilitator moderated discussions two experiments. assigned treatments: both moderation deliberative norms, ‘placebo’ Our dependent variables consist self-reported being heard discussion, feelings mutual respect. results show that participants—regardless disagreement—tend be satisfied only exception where decreased process satisfaction slightly. At level, deviation from mean had almost no effect.