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An alternative possibility is that smaller-scale deliberative procedures
could be combined with less-intensive but more-inclusive participatory
mechanisms, such as consultation or referenda.
105
The recorded con-
clusions of participants in deliberation could be used in these processes
to provide a catalyst for wider debate in civil society.
106
Iargueinthe
following section
that reliance on remote consultation over governmen-
tal proposals alone would be unlikely to create public support for an
ecological transition. However, I agree with Petts that using consultation
to augment deliberative participation would provide a means of dispel-
ling
complaints from outsider groups that the process is elitist or biased
in the decision authority
'
, and thereby of increasing the like-
lihood that decisions which deliberation has informed will be accepted
by participants and non-participants alike.
107
The obvious response to the suggestion that the outcomes of deliber-
ation between unelected individuals cannot be treated as representative
is to provide, in the design of institutional structures, for clear links
between deliberative stages and formal decision-making processes.
108
This would address the concern that participants in deliberation are
unaccountable by leaving decision-making authority with the represen-
tatives of elected administrations. It may also, by requiring that decisions
reached should take into account the views and values expressed by
participants in deliberative processes, have a salutary effect on public
con
'
sfavour
'
dence in the political system. In this regard, discursive democracy
is not seen by its proponents as a replacement for representative democ-
racy, but as a supplementary mode of democratic practice that would
enhance the authenticity of representative government as a whole
and raise the quality of decision-making by making governmental
authorities aware of public attitudes and perspectives on matters under
105
See the discussion of using referenda as a vehicle for widespread debate of political
issues at Smith,
'
Liberal Democracy
'
, p. 148 and Smith,
'
Democratic Innovations
'
,
p. 197.
106
Smith,
, p. 147. The importance of publicising conclusions
reached through deliberative processes if they are to enhance the perceived legitimacy
of
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
the political system amongst non-participants is also emphasised in Smith,
'
Democratic Innovations
'
,pp.25
-
6, 177.
107
Petts,
'
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Deliberative Processes
'
,215.
108
Meadowcroft,
'
Deliberative Democracy
'
, p. 197; Baber and Bartlett,
'
Deliberative
Environmental Politics
'
,p.234;A.Klinke,
'
Inclusive Risk Governance through Discourse,
Deliberation and Participation
in M. Everson and E. Vos (eds) Uncertain Risks Regulated
(Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), p. 411; Smith,
'
'
Democratic Innovations
'
,p.11.
