Call for papers for Workshop on Deliberative Democracy

Call for papers for Workshop on Deliberative Democracy in legislative domains

• Title: “Deliberation in law making procedures. Enhancing Trust in modern democracies.”
• Venue: Dublin City University, Ireland
• Date: Thursday May 9^th, 2019
• Deadline for submitting paper proposals: 28 February 2019

Deliberative democracy in theory and in practice has been developing rapidly over the last decade enriching significantly the study of democratic politics. The strong philosophical foundations of deliberation (Habermas 1996; Rawls 1993) were followed by an important development of arguments and strands within deliberative democracy (eg Dryzek 1994, Gutmann and Thompson 2003). In addition to the always-challenging theoretical discussion on several procedural and conceptual aspects of deliberation, the empirical applications of deliberative democracy have equally experienced a remarkable rise (Thompson 2008) as well as in online domains. A growing number of deliberative experiments and platforms have complimented the theoretical principles of deliberative theory with ‘real politics’ initiatives in which citizens can deliberate, exchange ideas and potentially contribute to decision making. We can argue that in deliberative democracy there is often a cross fertilization between theory and practice (Cavalier, 2011: 21).

The informed, active and engaged citizen stands at the very heart of deliberative democracy re-introducing, thus, a participatory turn in democratic theory. The purpose of deliberative fora is to enhance knowledge, foster dialogue between interlocutors and reach well-reasoned and well balanced decisions. Although not all strands of deliberative democracy agree on the whole procedure feeding a well balanced decision making, deliberative procedures provide a substantive locus for public discussion and public reasoning for policies that are about to be implemented.

Deliberative democracy both in relation to its origins and its actual implementation is closely associated with legal procedures as law making constitutes the main institutional process by which policies are decided, enacted and implemented. Law making in representative democracies is reflective of the normative stance that legislatures are representatives of people and therefore law making is also illustrative of peoples’ needs and interests. However, ‘strong democracies’ (Barber 2004) require that citizens are constantly present in politics and are able to influence decisions not only during elections but on other given instances as well. Presumably, if this continuous presence of citizens in political affairs is maintained, the feeling of “trust” which is closely associated with how citizens understand and address democratic procedures will be restored in modern representative democracies. Trust is considered a basic factor and quality indicator for democracy and low levels of political trust are associated with less support for law compliance and may undermine democratic procedures (Marien and Hooghe 2011: 282).

By fulfilling and realizing this normative assumption for the importance of citizens participation in politics, real world cases have shown that citizens can have a more substantial role in law making even to the highest level of legal hierarchy which is the Constitution. In addition, a number of e-rulemaking initiatives with the most prominent of them being the US e-rulemaking initiative have developed a long term culture for a more institutional approach in public participation in relation to legislative procedures. The EU has also adopted consultation and feedback procedures throughout the law making cycle.

This one-day workshop aims to explore new trends and innovations in deliberative democracy with specific attention to deliberative procedures in legislative politics and law making. We welcome papers and contributions predominantly on the following topics but also on other relevant topics.

• Innovations in participatory democracy and results reported
• How public deliberation can feed law-making procedures?
• Potential and preconditions for institutionalization of deliberative procedures in legislative politics
• Deliberative procedures and law making in the EU
• E-rulemaking and deliberation
• How participation and deliberation in law making procedures can enhance the feeling of trust in institutions and reinvigorate modern representative democracies?
• How important is trust between deliberators and trust in procedures for the procedure of deliberation and its success?
• How deliberation can fit in an institutional design. Preconditions, problems, benefits
• Evaluation and incorporation of citizens’ consultation and input in legislative politics
• Indicators of trust in law making procedures

Submission details: Please submit a short abstract of no more than 300 words to anastasia.deligkiaouri@dcu.ie with cc to jane.suiter@dcu.ie, david.farrell@ucd.ie by February 28^th, 2019 by indicating at the topic of the email “Workshop submission PEREDEP 2019”. All submissions will be peer –reviewed by the organizing committee and external reviewers. Please indicate at your abstract if it is part of a research project. Authors will be notified of the decision for their paper proposal by 15 March 2019.

Further information: Participants are expected to cover their own accommodation and travel costs. Due to the kind support of PSAI and also with the support of CiviQ, a limited number of travel (within Ireland) and accommodation bursaries are available for PhD students if their participation in the conference is not funded by their University. Please indicate if you require a bursary at your abstract submission.

Registration: Participation in the conference is free but all participants are required to register by filling in the Registration Form for PEREDEP - E-Rule Making Workshop. Please register by April 30^th, 2019 by sending the registration form with your details to anastasia.deligkiaouri@dcu.ie

Organizing Committee:

• Dr Anastasia Deligiaouri (Marie Curie Experienced Research Fellow, MSCA-IF), Dublin City University, Ireland, anastasia.deligkiaouri@dcu.ie
• Dr Jane Suiter, Associate Professor, School of Communications, Director of the Institute for Future Media and Journalism, Dublin City University, Ireland, jane.suiter@dcu.ie
• Professor David Farrell, Head, School of Politics and International Relations, University College Dublin, Ireland david.farrell@ucd.ie
• With the support of Political Studies Association of Ireland (PSAI) and the specialist group of Participatory Deliberative Democracy.

This workshop in organized as part of the project “PEREDEP” [Promoting E-Rulemaking in the EU through Deliberative Procedures]. The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 798502.