Work

Do Open Meetings Affect Deliberation? A Comparative Study of Political Meetings In Two Institutional Settings

Year: 2021

Type: article

Abstract: Transparency in politics is a core value of democracy, but has to be balanced with politicians' need for deliberation arenas. Norway and Denmark have relatively similar political systems at the municipal level, but the balance between openness and deliberation is approached in different ways: Denmark emphasizes closed political meetings and deliberation, Norway emphasizes open meetings and democratic control. This comparative study of two Danish and two Norwegian municipalities shows that closed meetings makes politicians more able to deliberate, and that mandatory open meetings move deliberation to informal meetings, and thus creates less ability to consensus-based politics.

Source: Journal of Deliberative Democracy

DOI: 10.16997/jdd.966

Author: Espen Leirset

Institution: Nord University

Language: English

Topic: Political Theory and Democracy

Subfield: Political Science and International Relations

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Peace, justice, and strong institutions

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W3140316256

FWCI: 2.487

Cites: 22

Cited by: 5

Related to: 10