Deliberative Democracy and Ecological Transition

Dimitri Courant is a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University, USA. He holds a double doctorate in political science from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, and the University of Paris 8, France. He was a postdoctoral Fung Global Fellow at Princeton University, USA.Bernard Reber is a philosopher, specializing in ethics and politics, Director of Research at the CNRS and a member of the Political Research Center at Sciences Po Paris, Cevipof, France. For over two decades, he has analyzed and helped to set up a number of deliberative experiments.

• Endorsements xiiiAcknowledgements xvIntroduction xviiDimitri COURANT and Bernard REBERI.1. Deliberative mini-publics, elsewhere and previously xixI.2. An exceptional scheme xxiI.3. A cross-disciplinary study to move past an oversimplistic narrative xxiiiI.4. Presentation of the book xxvI.5. An atypical field study for a multidisciplinary collective xxxiiI.6. References xxxviPart 1. A Complex Deliberative Process 1Chapter 1. Genesis and Evolution of the Citizens' Convention for Climate 3Dimitri COURANT1.1. Precursors and context: the Grand débat national and the citizen group of the ESEC 41.2. A negotiated and hybrid device: between militant lobbying and political strategy 51.3. Modifications and crises 161.4. Conclusion 251.5. References 25Chapter 2. Governing Committee and Political Role 29Jean-Michel FOURNIAU2.1. Self-government or external leadership of citizens' assemblies 302.2. Composition of the governing committee: a political negotiation 332.3. Role of the governing committee and scope of autonomy 372.4. "Sovereignty" of the Convention 402.5. Conclusion: an innovative participatory device or a new form of democratic representation 422.6. References 43Chapter 3. Comparing Ireland's Citizens' Assembly and France's Citizens' Convention 47Dimitri COURANT3.1. Random selection to the rescue of democracy and ecology 473.2. Ireland's Citizens' Assembly: between citizen autonomy and control by the managers 513.3. Comparative analysis with France's Convention: a more partial but more productive deliberation 593.4. Conclusion 693.5. Acknowledgements 703.6. References 70Chapter 4. The Pandemic and Conflicts of Legitimacy: Session 6bis 75Bernard REBER and Nathalie BLANC4.1. Accelerated improvisation 774.2. Influences on the Co-Chairs' and citizens' reactions 824.3. Management, selection and cascading votes 874.4. Media leak and crisis within the governing committee 934.5. Conclusion 954.6. References 99Part 2. Convention Members and Public Opinion 101Chapter 5. France in Miniature: The Descriptive Legitimacy of the Random Selection Process 103Jean-Michel FOURNIAU, Bénédicte APOUEY and Solène TOURNUS5.1. Initial recruitment of the 150 citizens 1045.2. Changes in the Convention's composition as it progressed 1115.3. Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants in the Citizens' Convention for Climate 1135.4. Composition of the thematic groups 1185.5. References 123Chapter 6. Profiles and Opinions of the Convention Members Compared to Those of the Population 125Adrien FABRE, Bénédicte APOUEY, Thomas DOUENNE, Jean-Michel FOURNIAU, Louis-Gaëtan GIRAUDET, Jean-François LASLIER and Solène TOURNUS6.1. Introduction 1266.2. Statistical representativity 1286.3. Deliberative citizens 1456.4. The general public's perceptions of the Convention 1496.5. Conclusion 1566.6. References 157Chapter 7. The Convention Members' Opinions on Climate Measures 159Bénédicte APOUEY, Thomas DOUENNE and Jean-François LASLIER7.1. Originally, mass support for the measures... with three exceptions 1617.2. Sociodemography of the support for the climate measures 1657.3. Perceptions relating to climate change and support for the measures 1707.4. Trust, life satisfaction, expectations and degree of support for the measures 1747.5. Citizens divided on the issue of the carbon tax, from the outset 1797.6. Evolution of the degree of support for the measures over the course of the Convention 1827.7. Conclusion 1837.8. References 185Part 3. Deliberations, Proposals and Expertise 187Chapter 8. Deliberative Impartiality and Legitimacy of the Influences 189Dimitri COURANT and Simon BAECKELANDT8.1. Impartiality as a deliberative imperative 1918.2. Objectivizing impartiality 1948.3. Around the citizens: politically committed organizers and experts 1968.4. Evaluating attempts to influence: modes of interaction and legitimacy 1998.5. Conclusion: proceduralizing impartiality 2168.6. References 220Chapter 9. Roles of the Experts and of the Citizens in Devising the Measures Put Forward: The Thematic Group "Housing" 225Louis-Gaëtan GIRAUDET and Hélène GUILLEMOT9.1. Characteristics and issues surrounding "Housing" as a field 2269.2. Experts and stakeholders 2279.3. Development and progression of the measures 2299.4. Role of the citizens, and role of the experts 2329.5. The measures, and what became of them 2359.6. Conclusion 2389.7. References 239Chapter 10. The Relationships to Expertise in Light of "Technical" Democracy 241Selma TILIKETE10.1. The C3 in line with a dialog-based model? 24410.2. Acting in a situation of "consensus on the diagnosis" 25110.3. Expanding the approach to the climate problem 25510.4. Relaying the experts' proposals, and making them fairer 25910.5. Conclusion 26210.6. References 264Chapter 11. Getting Around the Issue of the "Carbon Tax" 267Romane ROZENCWAJG, Bénédicte APOUEY, Maxime GABORIT, Laurent JEANPIERRE and Jean-François LASLIER11.1. Initial rejection of the "carbon tax" 26811.2. In search of substitute measures 27511.3. Conclusion 28311.4. References 285Part 4. Social Movements, Justice and Exceptions 287Chapter 12. Conceptions of Social, Environmental and Climate Justice 289Nathalie BLANC and Laurence GRANCHAMP12.1. Definitions of social, environmental and climate justice 29112.2. Political and organizational frameworks 29212.3. Debates on social justice in Session 2 of the C3 29412.4. A step toward environmental and climate justice 29912.5. Conclusion 30312.6. References 304Chapter 13. Contestation and Deliberation: Activists and the Randomly Selected Citizens 307Maxime GABORIT13.1. An organization open to social dynamics 30913.2. Diversity of interactions between activists and randomly selected citizens 31313.3. Moving past the dichotomy between contestation and deliberation 32213.4. References 324Chapter 14. Representativity and Exceptionality: Citizens from Overseas and Co-decision 327Christiane RAFIDINARIVO14.1. Dynamics of co-decision on public policy and construction of the research object 32914.2. Descriptive representativity and political representation: the exceptionality of the Overseas Territories 33414.3. The argument of exceptionality 34114.4. Conclusion 35514.5. Acknowledgements 35814.6. References 359Part 5. Comparisons, Filters and Accountability 365Chapter 15. The Bürgerrat Klima: Germany's Informal Model for Integrating Citizen Deliberation into Politics 367Rikki DEAN and Gabriel PELLOQUIN15.1. Bürgerrat Klima's internal characteristics 36915.2. The Assembly's integrative characteristics 37515.3. Conclusion 38215.4. References 384Chapter 16. Ambiguities of the Phrase "With No Filter" and the Necessary Filters 387Bernard REBER16.1. "With no filter": the ambiguity of a promise 39016.2. The filters of the Convention 39616.3. Legal filters 40416.4. The lacking filters of conceptions of justice 40716.5. Evaluation of the accountability process 41016.6. Conclusion: filters as "fictions", necessary for mutual understanding 41916.7. References 422Conclusion 427Bernard REBERC.1. Evaluation as a conflictive issue: doing better than the GDN 428C.2. No analysis without descriptive and normative filters 431C.3. The filters represented by the criteria used, and adherence to them 432C.4. Justifications of the criteria 433C.5. Presuppositions 436C.6. With and beyond Habermasian fiction and Rawlsian conjecture 438C.7. References 439List of Authors 443Index 445