PUBLICATIONS

Cover shot of the journal Democratic Theory
FEATURED PUBLICATION

Democracy in a Global Emergency:
Five Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic

We synthesise 20 articles on the impact of COVID-19 on democracy around the world to draw five lessons, examining how the pandemic has affected democratic institutions, economic and social inequalities, social solidarity, and cross-national relations.

Articles

Deliberating Like a State: Locating Public Administration in the Deliberative System
2024. Political Studies, 72 (3).
Journal version (Open Access)

Participatory Governance in the Digital Age: From Input to Oversight
2023. International Journal of Communication, 17.
Journal version (Open Access)

Integrating Citizen Deliberation into Climate Governance: Lessons from Six Climate Assemblies
2023 with John Boswell & Graham Smith. Public Administration, 101 (1).
Journal version (Open Access) | Blog Post

Leadership and the Hidden Politics of Co-Produced Research: A Q-Methodology Study
2023 with Catherine Durose, Beth Perry & Liz Richardson. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 26 (1).
Journal Version (OA) | Blog post

Embedding Participatory Governance
2022 with Sonia Bussu, Adrian Bua and Graham Smith. Critical Policy Studies, 16 (2).
Journal Version (Open Access)

Citizen Deliberation in Germany: Lessons from the Bürgerrat Demokratie
2022 with Felix Hoffman, Brigitte Geissel, Stefan Jung & Bruno Wipfler. German Politics
Journal version (Open Access)

The Marginalized Democracies of the World
2021 with Jean-Paul Gagnon, Hans Asenbaum, Dannica Fleuss, Sonia Bussu, Petra Guasti, Pierrick Chalaye, Nardine Alnemr, Friedel Marquardt, and Alexander Weiss. Democratic Theory, 8 (2).
Journal Version (OA)

Designing Democratic Innovations as Deliberative Systems: The Ambitious Case of NHS Citizen
2020 with John Boswell & Graham Smith. Political Studies, 68 (3).
Journal Version | Open Access Version | Blog post

Democracy in a Global Emergency: Five Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic
2020 with Afsoun Afsahi, Emily Beausoleil, Selen Ercan and Jean-Paul Gagnon. Democratic Theory, 7 (2).
Journal Version (OA) | Media version

Control or Influence? Conflict or Solidarity? Understanding Diversity in Preferences for Public Participation in Social Policy Decision-Making,
2019. Social Policy & Administration, 53 (1).
Journal Version | Open Access Version

Systematizing Democratic Systems Approaches: Seven Conceptual Building Blocks
2019 with Jonathan Rinne & Brigitte Geissel. Democratic Theory, 6 (2).
Journal Version | Open Access Version

What is Democratic Theory?
2019 with Jean-Paul Gagnon & Hans Asenbaum. Democratic Theory, 6 (2).
Journal Version (OA)

Why Decentralize Decision Making? English Local Actors’ Viewpoints
2019 with Liz Richardson & Catherine Durose. Governance, 32 (1).
Journal Version | Open Access Version

Counter-Governance: Citizen Participation Beyond Collaboration
2018. Politics and Governance, 6 (1).
Journal Version (OA).

Beyond Radicalism and Resignation: The Competing Logics for Public Participation in Policy Decisions 
2017. Policy & Politics, 45 (2).
* Received the 2018 Bleddyn Davies Prize for Best Early Career Paper
Journal version | Open Access Version | Blog post

Book Chapters

Le Bürgerrat Klima en Allemagne: modèle informel d’intégration de la délibération citoyenne
2024 with Gabriel Pelloquin in D. Courant & B. Reber (eds.), Démocratie délibérative et transition écologique, ISTE.
Link to the book for purchase

Five Lessons for Democracy from the COVID-19 Pandemic
2022 with Jean-Paul Gagnon, Afsoun Afsahi, Emily Beausoleil and Selen Ercan in T. Sugrue & C. Zaloom (eds.) The Long Year: A 2020 Reader, Columbia University Press.
Link to the book for purchase

Bürgerräte als Ergänzung der parlamentarischen Demokratie: Lehren vom „Bürgerrat Demokratie“
2021 with Brigitte Geissel, Felix Hoffmann & Stefan Jung in H. Hering (ed), Parlamentarische Demokratie Heute: Erwartungen, Herausforderungen, Ideen, Wochenschau Verlag.
Link to the book for purchase

Who Leads in Co-Produced Research?
2021 with Beth Perry, Catherine Durose & Liz Richardson in Transdisciplinary Knowledge Co-Production: A Guide for Sustainable Cities, Practical Action.
Link to the Open Access Book

Demokratie
2021 with Jonathan Rinne in D. Ranan (ed), Sprachgewalt: Missbrauchte Wörter und andere politische Kampfbegriffe, Dietz Verlag.
Link to the book for purchase | Video intro to the chapter

Democratic Innovation in Social Policy
2019 in O. Escobar and S. Elstub (eds.), Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance, Edward Elgar.
Link to the Chapter

New Labour and Adolescent Disadvantage: A Retrospective
2018 with Moira Wallace in Social Policy Review 30.
Link to the Chapter

Edited Special Issues

Embedding Participatory Governance.
A special issue of Critical Policy Studies. Volume 16, Issue 2. 2022.
Edited by Adrian Bua, Sonia Bussu, Rikki Dean and Graham Smith

Democracy in the Time of COVID-19.
A special issue of Democratic Theory. Volume 7, Issue 2. 2020
Edited by Afsoun Afsahi, Emily Beausoleil, Rikki Dean, Selen A. Ercan and Jean-Paul Gagnon

What is Democratic Theory?
A special issue of Democratic Theory. Volume 6, Issue 2. 2019
Edited by Jean-Paul Gagnon, Rikki Dean & Hans Asenbaum.

Reports

Spotlighting the Backstage Governance of Citizens’ Assemblies: Lessons from East Asia, Europe, and Latin America
2024. with Alan Marx, Indira Latorre, Santiago Niño, Felipe Rey, Su Yun Woo, Ming Zhuang
Global Citizens’ Assemblies Network (GloCAN) Technical Paper 1/2024

Bürgerrat Demokratie: Abschlussbericht von wissenschaftlicher Evaluation.
2019 with Brigitte Geissel, Stefan Jung & Bruno Wipfler

Research-related Blog Posts & Media

Are Democratic Innovations Changing Bureaucracy?
Episode 4 of the Democratic Innovations Podcast, 22 January 2024

Pars pro toto – Per Los im Bürgerrat
Interview mit HR-info für Folge 4 zum Thema Klima-Bürgerräte, 29 Juni 2023.

What Role Can Citizens’ Assemblies Play in Solving the Climate Crisis
An interview with SwissInfo, 28 March 2023
EN | DE | FR | IT | AR | RU

Kann deliberative Bürgerbeteiligung die Klimakrise lösen? Nicht ohne Verbindungen zur Politik
DeFacto Blog of the Swiss Political Science Association, 29 March 2023

The Comparative Democracy Takeover of Talk Social Science to Me
Episode 1: Conceptualizing Democracy
Episode 2: Democracy and Inequality
Episode 3: Democracy and Foreign Policy

Can Citizen Deliberation Address the Climate Crisis? Not if it is disconnected from politics and policymaking
LSE European Politics and Policy Blog, 7 December 2022.

What are “Democratic Innovations”?
An interview with the Talk Social Science to Me Podcast, 23 June 2022

Untangling Description, Deception and Denunciation: A Linguistic Twist to the Science of Democracy
The Loop, 14 January 2022

Leadership and the Hidden Politics of Co-Produced Research
Integration and Implementation Insights, 7 December 2021.

Some Rough, Pessimistic Thoughts on the Political Economy Problem of Climate Assemblies
Political Studies Association Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Blog, 14 November 2021.

Can Participatory Impeachment Defend Democracy from Partisan Justice?
Political Studies Association Participatory and Deliberative Democracy Blog, 20 February 2021.

Five Lessons for Democracy From the Covid-19 Pandemic: An International Evaluation of Democracy in Crises
Public Seminar, 30 October 2020.

NHS Citizen and what it tells us about designing democratic innovations as deliberative systems
LSE British Politics and Policy Blog and Democratic Audit, 6 November 2019.

Ein neuer Blick auf Partizipation
Interview for Goethe Universität UniReport, Nr 4, (5 Juli 2018): 10

There is more than One Way to Involve the Public in Policy Decisions
Discover Society and Policy & Politics Blog, 1 June 2016.

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the EU Referendum (sort of).
LSE British Politics and Policy Blog and Harvard Ash Center Blog, 22 June 2016

Democracy Matters, but How?
OxPol Blog and openDemocracy, 15 April 2016

Designing the NHS Citizens Assembly
NHS Citizen Blog, 9 June 2014.

Reflections on the NHS Citizen Process
NHS Citizen Blog, 29 October 2013.

There Should Be Greater Public Involvement in Deciding What Is a Legitimate Nudge
LSE British Politics and Policy Blog and Democratic Audit, 6 June 2013.

Using Family Breakdown and Addiction as Indicators of Child Poverty is Profoundly Mistaken
LSE British Politics and Policy Blog, 4 April 2013.

PhD Thesis

Democratising Bureaucracy: The Many Meanings of Public Participation in Social Policy and How to Harness Them.
2017. PhD Thesis. London School of Economics.
* Received the LSE’s Richard Titmuss Prize for Outstanding Scholarship