‘Bridging voices’: The role of multilingualism in fostering inclusion in deliberative mini-publics

In deliberative mini-publics, a group of citizens deliberate on a complex societal issue (e.g. climate change) and develop recommendations for the (local) government. Inclusiveness is key to the success of these processes, ensuring that all relevant social groups are given an equal opportunity to have a voice and be heard, regardless of their diverse backgrounds. A prominent form of diversity is differences in linguistic background, which often goes hand in hand with cultural diversity as language and culture can not be seen as separate from one another. This diversity presents a challenge to voice opinions and feeling included.

The current research is focused on the perception of voice and inclusion in multilingual deliberative mini-publics with attention to the communicative strategies people use to overcome linguistic barriers they face, contributing to practical improvement of these processes and knowledge on inclusive multilingualism.

The study involved 21 semi-structured interviews with participants (non-native - and native speakers of Dutch) and (lay) interpreters, and observations of seven meetings across seven deliberative mini-publics (DMP’s) in Dutch municipalities. Data were thematically analyzed using a combination of deductive and inductive coding.

The results show that participants felt welcome and respected and generally had the opportunity to voice their opinion. However, non-native speakers faced obstacles that limited their participation and voice such as missing (relevant) information, difficulties in engaging in discussions with other participants and not feeling comfortable voicing their opinions. Non-native speakers also reported having less influence on the recommendations. Based on these findings, we discuss some implications for addressing linguistic diversity, in order to foster inclusiveness in multilingual deliberative democracy, and some suggestions for future research.