A Strategy for Deliberative Democracy
Bill Johnston follows up his article from January on building the infrastructure we need to develop a truly deliberative democracy.
This is a follow up to my January 2026 article on Informed Citizenry and Citizens Assemblies as key components of Deliberative Democracy (link). Whilst it may be possible to introduce those elements as themes during the election campaign the challenge is to encourage folk to develop their democratic capacity post-election. This would involve increased information literacy to counter dis/misinformation, including demands for better FOI provision, allied to systematic expansion of inclusive civic forms like Citizen’s Assemblies.
May 2026 could be a historic election for independence if, as argued by the SNP, it leads to Indy Ref2. My sense is that this outcome is unlikely given UK intransigence and the politics of ‘muscular unionism’. Also, the scope for advocating independence will be constrained by the election’s time limitations and narrow focus on competitive campaigning by parties. Thereby reducing peer to peer exchanges to meetings at demonstrations, hustings, and informal contacts.
That said the May elections offer a potential case study to critically analyse the status of politics, informed citizenship, and the opportunities for citizen’s assemblies. That analysis would help citizens to build a wedge against the current relatively passive, and establishment managed, forms of democracy by constructing much greater participative democracy.
Strategy for deliberative democracy
My proposal is to treat this election as a snapshot of Scottish democracy and politics in 2026 to analyse strengths, weaknesses, threats, and opportunities for increased civic participation going forward. Such a public knowledge base would provide a common information resource for citizens to explore what form of democracy a future independent Scotland should take and how to achieve it. The analysis would also expose significant issues of political economy and social conditions to critical analysis and debate.
Is there warrant for this progressive approach? Yes.
The 2014 Referendum was characterised as a high point of political consciousness and engagement in Scotland. However, we need to go beyond that baseline to develop a new level and timeline for progress that does not rely entirely on the Holyrood election cycle or the current power structures.
Election 2026: Case Study and Analysis
For convenience I suggest framing the case study via a basic model of levels of political consciousness and action:
Macro: Comprising the whole political system around elections (including the possibility of referenda). This would treat party manifestos, for example, as a common source of public knowledge about the state of Scottish politics in 2026, bolstered by additional campaign information and commentary from media reporting, polling data and expert opinion. Also, the constituency profiles provided by the National in the run up to May provide valuable insights into the nuts and bolts of the electoral landscape.
Messo: A ‘middle’ level framing of participation best illustrated by formal citizen’s assemblies. There are none likely during the 2026 election so analysis would necessarily be future orientated to suggest how assemblies and their effectiveness could be increased in the short to medium term. Organisations such as trade unions and community groups are likely to be active at this mid-level in organising hustings etc. Unfortunately, they are less likely to be covered in the media but they are valuable information sources, which should be accessed and not lost.
Micro: Individual citizens and their peer-to-peer interactions with others. The basic units of participation and deliberative democracy. Regrettably the least likely to be encouraged and most likely to be exploited as ‘representative’ vox pop fodder and questionnaire respondents. This is despite the growing body of evidence showing that peer-to-peer campaigning at the micro level is often more persuasive and creates deeper personal connections with the arguments than many forms of campaigning at the messo or macro level.
Elements for Analysis: Manifestos, policies, and participation
Party Manifestos are the starting point at the macro level. Conventionally consumed as news through media reporting and commentary and then quickly forgotten. You would be forgiven for dismissing manifestos as part of the public performance of democracy at election time with a very short political shelf life thereafter.
However, as an alternative approach, I suggest adapting Paulo Freire’s concept of adult learning as a critical act of “reflection and action directed at the structures to be transformed” as an approach to the reading of manifestos. In this case the structures to be transformed are those identified as impeding transition from devolution to independence whilst fostering social and economic inequalities. This perspective and approach can also be applied to the key topics in political economy, society, and culture highlighted at mid 2026.
The outcomes of this analysis would provide a possible agenda of topics/themes for an expanded programme of public participation by Citizen’s Assemblies post-election. It would be for civic minded people in various sectors and organisations to force the pace with government using existing policy on participative democracy (link embedded in January article) to establish a comprehensive scheme of assemblies. If the government response is deemed inadequate, then folk can take the initiative in setting up local area and organisation-based assemblies. There is also scope for parallel developments through trade union and community organisations.
Conclusion
In essence this is an outline strategy for Deliberative Democracy and Informed Citizenry to enhance civic engagement in Scotland. The aim is to regain the kind of political commitment we experienced in 2014 and reverse the decline in commitment since then. That downward trajectory has led us to a likely SNP election win in 2026, but with no clear route to independence thereafter, and a desperate need to get round the ensuing impasse without delay.