When citizens met politicians – the process and outcomes of mixed deliberation according to participant status and gender

With deliberative democracy becoming increasingly incorporated into political processes, the instances of citizens and politicians meeting in deliberation, so-called mixed deliberations, is increasing too. While these are important steps towards more systems, deliberation setting nonetheless introduces certain risks regarding equality. Citizens have different capacities, which could affect process deliberation. Moreover, inequalities such as gender gaps may be evident deliberations where present. This study focuses on a series 2018 about proposed municipal merger Finland. Using content analysis speech acts (N = 3404) well pre- post-deliberation surveys 225), we analyze patterns according to participant status (politician/citizen) dominance, discussion quality, impact internal external efficacy. The findings show that dominated discussions achieved higher quality than citizens. also revealed women their acts.