Transnational Climate Deliberation: Improving Deliberativeness and Engagement

• In Event: Innovating for Democracy: New Technologies, New Roles

Abstract

Climate change policies are a prime example of “complex” political issues where transnational approaches are crucially important and potentially influential because they involve government and advocacy group elites. However, this also means they preclude public scrutiny, which is problematic from a democratic legitimacy perspective. Instead, policy responses to chronic crises such as climate change should not only be informed by expert knowledge but seek public support to have legitimacy. Omitting citizen perspectives leaves climate action initiatives vulnerable to populist backlash. One way to achieve citizen engagement is representative transnational deliberative platforms. This paper utilizes data from a transnational online deliberative platform, EUComMeet, featuring automated moderation and automated translation in multiple languages implemented in 5 EU countries in 2023. Relying on pre and post-surveys and focus group interviews, this paper asks whether interpersonal deliberation at different levels (locally), nationally and transnationally can improve deliberativeness and citizen engagement on crucial climate action goals.

Authors

• Jane Suiter, Dublin City University

• Kevin Saude, University of Limerick