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

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