Our featured member for the month of January is Christine C. Paulin, Professor in the Department of Public Administration at the Université de Moncton. In this instance, Ms. Paulin agreed to write an article describing her experience, and that of her seminar class, regarding public policymaking in the context of deliberative democracy.

We’d like to thank Professor Paulin for taking the time to write this article and being January’s Spotlight Member!

Public Policymaking in the Context of Deliberative Democracy: Towards Discovering an Approach

“The man who wears the shoe knows best that it pinches

and where it pinches, even if the expert shoemakers is the best

to judge of how the trouble is to be remedied”

(Dewey, 1927 : 207)

On June 14, 2012, the New Brunswick Social Policy Research Network (NBSPRN) organized a retreat or “reflection day” under the following theme and title: “Research on the Initiatives, Process and Implementation of Citizen Engagement Mechanisms.” In keeping with the numerous scientific studies in the field, this activity has also generated considerable interest among many stakeholders involved in this area. One of the key goals of this initiative was to establish new contacts and strengthen existing ties between all the sectors that participate, in one way or another, in research on citizen engagement or citizen engagement practices aimed at developing public policies. In all, the retreat brought together close to one hundred participants from a variety of environments: NBSPRN members, university researchers, representatives from community-based organizations, government stakeholders (municipal, provincial and federal levels), etc. The many exchanges and discussions between participants helped forge closer links between research on citizen engagement and practices aimed at developing our understanding regarding this new approach to public policy development in New Brunswick and elsewhere in the world. These interactions also contributed to the sharing of various research interests and current fields of expertise in this sector, while offering participants the opportunity to prioritize the most serious weaknesses in the field (themes and research questions) that, in their view, should be immediately explored, in order to contribute to improving the decision-making process and resulting public policies.

Inspired by the energy and enthusiasm of the participants at this retreat organized by the NBSPRN, Professor Christine C. Paulin (Department of Public Administration, Université de Moncton) chose to focus her graduate seminar on deliberative democracy (commonly referred to as “citizen engagement”) and public policymaking tools associated with these public policies. As such, a total of seven (7) Master of Public Administration students registered for the course ADPU6455 – “Séminaire en politiques publiques”, in the fall 2014 university semester. These students were able to develop their knowledge of the key premises of deliberative democracy, by exploring several notions and theoretical conceptualizations, including: contemporary democratic development, the continuum of public participation in public policymaking, the strengths and limitations of deliberative democracy, the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders involved in the decision-making process, as well as the effects of key deliberative tools used in the democratic context. Moreover, within the framework of this graduate seminar, students also analyzed the effects of deliberative democracy within a very particular government context: municipal politics. This student activity not only encouraged a better understanding of the specific features surrounding the application of theoretical precepts when analyzing public policies, it also provided direct contact with the object of study, in this case public policymaking within the government machinery. Made possible through a partnership with the City of Dieppe (New Brunswick), the formula proposed by this case study provided the perspective of three different stakeholders involved in recent public participation policymaking at the City of Dieppe: the perspective of the elected official, of the administrator involved in the daily management of the file and that of the practitioner affected by the application of the said public participation policy. Students had the opportunity to listen to the presentation of each of these individuals, to ask them questions and analyze – from data gathered – the context inherent in the perspective of each of these different stakeholders affected by the making of this public participation policy that was recently adopted by the municipality (definition, understanding, advantages, constraints, etc.)

In order to strengthen their research skills and allow them to better apply the knowledge and skills acquired through the course (in other words, bridge the gap between theory and practice in connection with deliberative democracy), the students worked on developing research projects and oral presentations. The subjects studied were varied: “Les conditions et limites d’application du Budget participatif : Le cas de la Ville de New York”; “L’analyse descriptive des divers contextes d’application du Budget participatif”; “Les Cercles de parole en tant que nouvel instrument d’élaboration des politiques publiques dans un contexte de démocratie délibérative”; “L’analyse du modèle de participation publique utilisé dans l’élaboration du projet de Loi C-36 sur la prostitution au Canada” and “Les outils de démocratie délibérative utilisés dans le secteur de la santé au Nouveau-Brunswick et leurs impacts sur les politiques publiques”. These research projects touch on a variety of public policy sectors, use different lenses for analysis based on the deliberative democracy approach and concern different levels of government.

However, the list of questions surrounding deliberative democracy is still unquestionably very long. Moreover, one of the most important outcomes of discussions at the “Research on the Initiatives, Process and Implementation of Citizen Engagement Mechanisms” retreat organized by the NBSPRN in June 2012 was certainly the creation of a potential research agenda in the field – a research agenda, it must be added, that presents research questions reflecting the realities of New Brunswick. Some of what these questions explored: how to ensure that citizens are represented and their voices heard during deliberative exercises; how to successfully overcome key roadblocks in the application of deliberative mechanisms (low literacy levels, limited trust towards the State, difficult economic conditions, etc.); how to eliminate silos and build bridges between practitioners and researchers in the field, in order to transfer this acquired knowledge to the public policy field of analysis (for State- and community-level application).

Although many of these questions remain unanswered, it must be said that students registered in the ADPU6455 course, “Séminaire des politiques publiques” (fall 2014 semester), contributed – through their research and analytical rigueur – to the advancement of several promising avenues in the public policy analysis sector. If we are to eliminate the silos and explore concrete ways for building bridges between practitioners and researchers in this field, if we want to adhere to the theoretical premises of deliberative democracy that underlie better cooperation between individuals involved in the same public issue, if we want greater consensus-building in order to establish policymaking that reflects contemporary democratic values (transparency and fairness, in response to citizens’ needs and interests), then knowledge transfer in this field is essential. Therefore, we feel that it is important to continue the dialogue initiated by researchers, practitioners, students and government stakeholders and other citizens concerned by the public policy field of analysis.

In closing, we would like to reiterate that the democratic advancement of our society, by adhering to the premises of deliberative democracy that underlie greater cooperation and consensus-building between different stakeholders, concerns us all. It is our opinion that there are several initiatives, as small as they may be, that can help us discover, develop and eventually implement best practices in the area of public policymaking within our province… whether as part of a retreat on the subject or by openly distributing the empirical successes and theoretical discoveries of practitioners and researchers who are committed to better understanding, explaining and promoting essential conditions for deliberative democracy in New Brunswick.

“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap,

but by the seeds that you plant.”

(Robert Louis Stevenson)

(photo credit: http://positiveinspirationalquotes.in/motivational-quotes-dont-judge-day-harvest-reap-seeds-plant/)

*In the photo (left to right): (standing at the back) – Saïkou Amadou Junior Diallo, Nicole Boudreau, Marie-Josée Landry, Jennifer Daigle, Malik Drareni, Raoul Martens, (seated in front) – Christine C. Paulin et Yves Melanson