Suteu, Silvia; (2026) Separation of Powers and Deliberative Democracy. In: Cambridge Handbook on Separation of Powers. Cambridge University Press (In press).

Text SUTEU - Separation of Powers and Deliberative Democracy (accepted).pdf - Accepted Version Access restricted to UCL open access staff Download (287kB)

Abstract

This chapter maps the state of play in the area of deliberative democratic innovations and the separation of powers concerns they attempt to address and at times give rise to themselves. It focuses primarily on deliberative mini-publics such as citizens’ assemblies, deliberative polls, and constitutional conventions in an effort to narrow down the scope of analysis, as well as in recognition of the interest in these mechanisms in the comparative constitutional literature. The chapter investigates the interplay between mini-publics and the separation of powers under three scenarios: (1) deliberative innovations as ad hoc supplements to representative institutions, performing an advisory role; (2) deliberative innovations as permanent supplements to traditional institutions in constitutional democracies; and (3) deliberative innovations empowered with decision-making functions. The chapter examines the promise of mini-publics to contribute to both the negative function of the separation of powers, by performing a democratic accountability role in the system, and to its positive function, via their epistemic and representative legitimacy. The chapter calls for a more sobering assessment of mini-publics’ ability to deliver on these promises, in particular where their role is sidelined by political elites but also, paradoxically, where their empowerment may produce unintended systemic effects.

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