Citizens make sense in deliberate activity

There is little public understanding and acceptance by authorities about public deliberation that invites the public into facilitated, deliberative, small-group processes to improve public policy decision-making. Justifications for a formalised deliberative democracy tend to rest on theoretical visions and on realist claims focussed on outputs, overlooking the activity of deliberation as merely an instrumental black box. A more compelling story about the nature of public deliberation should be told, developed using a methodology that is consistent with the complexity and emergence that defines it. This thesis portrays an analysis of the unfolding experience of participants of an Australian Citizens’ Parliament as a social construction. The inquiry also embraces a critical socio-cultural approach known to educational researchers as Cultural Historical Activity Theory to reveal immanent contradictions to the activity in its social and political context. A narrative of gathering hope, belief and value exploration across difference, of judgement and projected public action is constructed in deliberative activity. It turns out that participants expend most of their energy making sense of each other rather than competing in argument. A narrative re-framing of public deliberators as the authentic researchers in a collaborative project is proposed. This approach may generate greater trust by the public and authority for the convening of deliberative projects and the acceptance of their enduring recommendations