This report sets out the case for how mini-publics can help democracy connect with
evidence. It is based on a review of the literature on mini-publics by Stephen Elstub and
colleagues , and examines eight case studies, mostly from Europe. We reference these cases
throughout the report, and they can be read in full in Evidence use in mini-publics: eight case
studies.
9 Our focus is primarily on social policy, but we also cover practical lessons from other
areas – such as electoral reform in Canada, or planning for SARS or avian flu in Australia.
The core message is optimistic. It shows how the doom-mongers of democracy are wrong,
and that voters can make informed decisions. The ‘uneducated’ electorate has always been
a concern since the dawn of universal suffrage, from J.S. Mill who recommended giving
extra votes to citizens with university degrees, to present-day political scientists like Jason
Brennan, author of Against Democracy, who argues in favour of an ‘epistocracy’ – or ‘rule
of the knowers’. How could the great unwashed proletariat, the ‘proles’, ever understand the
micro-economics of drug cost-effectiveness, say, or the epidemiological pandemic models
for SARS or Ebola (see Annex C on the types of evidence we found used in mini-publics)?
Yet in all the case studies described here, the citizens did understand the research, and they
made wise decisions based on evidence.
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