In a context of low levels of trust and dissociation from traditional democratic institutions, citizens are expecting public institutions to be more representative of their interests and needs. The OECD invites public authorities at all levels of government to involve everyday citizens in solving public problems through more engaging and representative forms of participation, such as deliberative processes. The “deliberative wave” has been expanding, covering 34 countries, with 96% of the cases situated within OECD Members. By yielding public judgements rather than public opinion, deliberative processes can lead to better policy outcomes. When done effectively, they can enable policy makers to take hard decisions on challenging and contentious problems whilst enhancing trust.
Innovative public participation
Citizens must have a say in the decisions that affect them. Inclusive and impactful participation not only enriches the policymaking process by incorporating diverse views and harnessing collective knowledge, but also strengthens public understanding of outcomes, promotes policy uptake, and reinforces trust in public institutions. It is essential to institutionalise participatory and deliberative processes and better articulate them with representative democracies.
Key messages
Technology offers new avenues to enhance the scale and scope of public participation and increase governments’ responsiveness and accountability. In 2021, online deliberation was the most used medium for conducting a deliberative process, and government-wide online consultation were active in 85% of OECD countries. Civic technology has the potential to improve representation and participation by creating more opportunities for citizens and stakeholders to express their priorities. It plays a critical role in monitoring public action and in ensuring the integrity of electoral processes. Public institutions must responsibly harness the opportunities brought by emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, whilst making sure those reinforce rather than diminish democracy.
Minorities, women and people with lower income and educational levels tend to express less trust in government. Younger people also exhibit lower trust in government compared to older generations, with an almost ten percent difference between the groups in surveyed OECD countries. For participatory practices to foster inclusion, public authorities have to take the necessary actions to reach out and involve those traditionally marginalised groups as well as take into consideration any special needs for that all individuals are able to exercise their right to participate. In deliberative processes, participation is often encouraged and supported through remuneration, coverage of expenses, and/or by providing or paying for childcare.
Context
The deliberative wave continues to grow
The OECD Deliberative Database is composed of a collection of 733 cases from 1979 to 2023. It now includes data from 34 countries, with 96% of the cases situated within OECD Members. The steady adoption of representative deliberative processes suggests that it is seen as a trusted mechanism for public authorities to engage citizens and enhance the quality of public decisions.
Deliberation is being used to solve long-term issues, in particular environmental topics
Environment and long-term policy issues are the main topics addressed by deliberative processes. In 32% of cases collected by the OECD in 2023, citizens were tasked with producing recommendations related to the green agenda. This reinforces the trend observed in 2021, where other policy issues that require long-term thinking, such as urban and strategic planning were at the top of the deliberative process agenda.
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