ABSTRACT
In response to the limitations of elite-driven democratic innovations, social movements have proposed democratic innovations that are democracy-driven. They claim that democracy-driven governance generates legitimacy by better responding to citizens’ demands. However, whether participating citizens support this claim remains unclear. Under what conditions do participants accept the legitimacy of a mini-public that has been set up by a social movement party? We examine this question by conducting an in-depth case study of the Brussels Citizens’ Assembly organized by the Agora movement party throughout its entire process. Adopting mixed-methods, we find that participants’ perceived legitimacy is shaped by a process-long, dynamic interaction between organizers and participants. Legitimacy is enhanced when organizers grant participants authorship over the BCA’s procedural design and breaks down when they fail to do so.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nino Junius
Nino Junius is a researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. His research interests include deliberative democracy, democratic innovations, and their relation to political parties.