Loddet er kastet: Om bruken av innbyggerpaneler i lokalpolitikken

Abstract

This chapter examines a citizens’ panel (a ‘mini-public’) that took place in the municipality of Bergen in 2018. We begin by discussing mini-publics as innovative measures to increase participation in political systems. In the literature, the internal quality of the panels – who is recruited and included on the panel and how opinion formation is organized – is emphasized. How mini-publics affect the political/representative political system – the external quality of the panels – has not been studied as thoroughly, and is therefore the analytical starting point for our chapter. In the empirical part of the chapter, we present the panel in Bergen, how it was recruited and organized, and the recommendations it made to decision-makers in the municipality. We also explore how citizens in Bergen assess these sorts of innovative democratic measures. The chapter ends with a discussion of the mini-public’s place in a representative democracy – are mini-publics supplements or alternatives?