Research interests
My research focuses on deliberation, representation, democracy, and sortition. Myqualitative fieldwork inquiry compares several case-studies, especially the Irish Citizens’ Assemblies (Ireland); the Citizens’ Convention for Climate, and the National Great Debate (France). He was also part of the team leading the first Citizen Initiative Review in Switzerland. My postdoctoral work investigates citizens’ assemblies on climate change in an international comparative perspective.
(1) Theoretically, it addresses an overlooked aspect of research on democratic innovations, by analyzing concrete institutional propositions and social representations, while constructing deliberative mini-publics (DMP) as a political object resulting from a complex process. (2) Methodologically and empirically, this research takes an original route by adopting qualitative methods as well as an international comparative approach, while generating new data. (3) Politically, in a context where the democratic crisis intensifies and DMP are increasingly implemented to deal with important policy problems such as climate change, this project provides crucial knowledge to decision makers, administrations, NGOs, and the wider public.
An International Comparison of Democratic Innovations in Context
Democratic innovations do not appear in a vacuum or out of sole enthusiasm. They are the products of complex processes often involving negotiations and coalitions from very different political actors. The context of innovating democratic participation is mostly a context of deep crisis, where conventional solutions are powerless. It is crucial to analyze how the genesis of democratic innovations shape their profile and determine their outcomes.
Furthermore, most studies lack a comparative and international dimension, usually focusing on one case in a single country. The worldwide diffusion of DMP calls for a comparative approach, often suggested but rarely done. My research aims at overcoming those gaps through a qualitative and comparative sociology of six countries, while questioning why mini-publics are implemented and supported.
A Qualitative Approach to Deliberative Democracy
The majority of the scholarships on DMP have been quantitative. Most research is based on pre and post-deliberation surveys and treats DMP as a full or approximate experimental device to find out general laws regarding opinion changes. My research adopts are qualitative sociological approach and a critical interrogation of the actors’ motivation for establishing, organizing, or participating in deliberative mini-publics. Qualitative methods are crucial to identify and explain causal mechanisms. My research combines: 1) direct ethnographic observation, 2) semi-directive in-depth interviews, and 3) document analysis on various data corpora.