A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Public trust in advisory mini-publics: the impact of recommendations and institutional design features




AuthorsHimmelroos, Staffan; Jäske, Maija; Setälä, Maija

PublisherInforma UK Limited

Publication year2025

Journal: Political Research Exchange (PRX)

Article number2601645

Volume8

Issue1

eISSN2474-736X

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/2474736X.2025.2601645

Publication's open availability at the time of reportingOpen Access

Publication channel's open availability Open Access publication channel

Web address https://doi.org/10.1080/2474736x.2025.2601645

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/508386348

Self-archived copy's licenceCC BY

Self-archived copy's versionPublisher`s PDF


Abstract

Deliberative mini-publics are among the most studied forms of citizen participation with an active global developer network. Mini-publics have shaped legislation and provided useful information for voters in many countries, but our knowledge on the public perceptions of these mechanisms remains ambiguous. The public generally trusts mini-publics, but often on different grounds than democratic theory expects. We ran a population-based survey experiment (n = 2992) in Finland to examine how information regarding the design features of an advisory mini-public - organizer, composition and competence - and its policy recommendations affect the wider public's trust in the mini-public. Our experiment is based on a real mini-public, Citizens' Jury on Climate Actions organized in 2021, with a mandate from the Ministry of the Environment. We find that reading about mini-public recommendations and their justifications increases overall trust in the mini-public. However, the design features of the mini-public process had no effect on these general trust judgements.


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Funding information in the publication
This work was supported by Research Council of Finland [Grant Number 341373]; Svenska Kulturfonden [Grant Number 188074].


Last updated on 21/01/2026 12:11:55 PM