Where is the Deliberative Turn Going? A Survey Study of the Impacts of Public Consultation and Deliberation in China

Abstract

Deliberation researchers have started to question the commonly assumed association between democracy and deliberation, arguing that public deliberation in authoritarian regimes is not only theoretically possible, but also empirically existent. Echoing their speculation that deliberation may lead China to different political trajectories, this study examines the political impacts of authoritarian consultation and deliberation by analyzing data from sample surveys conducted in multiple rural areas in Zhejiang province. The results show that both individuals’ discursive experience and the level of discursive institutionalization have positive impacts on state legitimacy, and that deliberation tends to exert a stronger influence on promoting state legitimacy in an area with less fully developed discursive institutions. In contrast, individuals’ discursive experience and institutional levels play far weaker roles in fostering citizenship characteristics. The implications of the findings for China’s political future are discussed.

Deliberation researchers have started to question the commonly assumed association between democracy and deliberation, arguing that public deliberation in authoritarian states is not only theoretically possible, but also empirically existent. Echoing their speculation that deliberation may lead China to different political trajectories, this study examines the political impacts of authoritarian consultation and deliberation by analyzing data from sample surveys conducted in multiple rural areas in Zhejiang province. The results show that both individuals’ discursive experience and the level of discursive institutionalization have positive impacts on state legitimacy, and that deliberation tends to exert a stronger influence on promoting state legitimacy in an area with less fully developed discursive institutions. In contrast, individuals’ discursive experience and institutional levels play far weaker roles in fostering citizenship characteristics. The implications of the findings for China’s political future are discussed.