Why do politicians not act upon citizens' deliberations? Evidence from Iceland

Pálsdóttir, V. B., Gherghina, S. and Tap, P. (2023) Why do politicians not act upon citizens' deliberations? Evidence from Iceland. Political Studies Review, (doi: 10.1177/14789299231197157) (Early Online Publication)

Abstract

Politicians are expressing increasing support for deliberative practices around the world. However, knowledge about their actions beyond expressing support is scarce. To address this gap in the literature, this article aims to explain why politicians do not pick up the results arising from deliberative practices and integrate them into their policies. Our analysis focuses on the 2019 deliberation in Iceland as the most likely case in which we would expect such a process to occur. We use original data from 25 semi-structured interviews conducted in 2021 with Icelandic MPs elected at the national level, which also cover all the party leaders of the eight parliamentary parties in the 2017–2021 term in office. The reflexive thematic analysis finds that, irrespective of their ideological affiliation, politicians are critical of deliberative practices both in procedural and substantive terms. They display a strong belief that political representation achieved through elections must be the rule of the democratic game. As such, deliberation is considered redundant since citizens already have many ways to participate in representative democracy.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Early Online Publication
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Gherghina, Dr Sergiu
• Authors: Pálsdóttir, V. B., Gherghina, S., and Tap, P.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Politics
• Journal Name: Political Studies Review
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 1478-9299
• ISSN (Online): 1478-9302
• Published Online: 09 September 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Political Studies Review 2023
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons licence