A new book chapter by Adrià Mompó, Rosa Borge, and Oscar Barberà (2025) has been published in S. Gherghina (ed.) Political Parties and Deliberative Democracy in Europe. A Convenient Relationship? Routledge (pp. 211-227).
This chapter contributes to the development of a comparative approach to party deliberative processes by exploring the conditions that make them possible and the organisational features that characterise them. The conditions and features discussed are: i) Timing: in relation to when, and in which context, parties decide to conduct deliberative processes; ii) Issues: which topics or issues they choose to deliberate on; iii) Location and arenas: where (in which arenas) they organise them; iv) Participants: who participates in them; and v) Implementation: how (in which format) they are developed.
We analysed four deliberative experiences in Spain that took place in the early years after the Great Recession: The CUP and the vote of non-confidence; Podemos’ foundational assembly and Plaza Podemos; PSOE’s deliberative making of the electoral manifesto; the transformation of CDC into the PDeCat. Overall, the evidence from the Spanish cases indicates that deliberation is mostly introduced in critical moments, amidst crisis and divisions, or to make hard choices, but never during elections. The deliberative formats might differ between parties, but in all cases, several arenas are combined following a bottom-up process. Some parties develop permanent deliberative structures, but this is not a general trend.
Although some of these deliberative experiences have been exceptional, and in some cases have revealed factional divisions within the party, they have also favoured inclusivity and promoted the internal exchange of ideas, paving the way for further innovations in internal decision-making. We do not believe that the findings outlined here will be a peculiarity of Spain; rather, they are likely to represent some common trends. Further research could replicate the conditions and organisational features framework we have used to examine other cases and test these insights.
Here you can download the full book chapter: