Racial mismatch between community and decision makers drives deliberative failure

Evidence

The demand for this type of authentic, community-based participation comes out of the experience of disenfranchisement—the combination of misrecognition and political exclusion. The lack of participation in environmental decision-making comes, in very large part, from the limitations of race, class, and gender. These present a range of structural obstacles—including less access to political, legal, scientific, economic, and other resources—to full participation in environmental decisions. Environmental justice groups often argue that the injustices they suffer come from a lack of oversight; the demand to counter this is not just a call for a recognition of the problem, but also a call for more thorough and participatory local input into, and control over, environmental decisions. Groups do not want others—either mainstream environmental groups or governmental agencies—simply saying that they will take care of the community’s interests; they wish to be consulted from the start, speak for themselves, work with a variety of other groups and agencies, and be offered a full partnership in the making of decisions. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 248 (#expands, via linked claim)

Deliberation works best where there is adequate representation, or inclusion, of affected interests and mutual respect among the participants. Where material inequalities exist or where representation is flawed or nominal, a deliberative process can suffer from illegitimacy in its outcomes as much as a pluralistic process can. Similarly, too much participation, or unwieldy and unorganized participation, can be as destructive to deliberation as too little participation. … It is only when participants respect and engage other viewpoints that they can shape dialogue and move toward a consensus. — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up, 522 (#qualifies-own, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Deliberative democracy fails without material equality among participants — Luke W. Cole and Sheila R. Foster, From the Ground Up: Environmental…, 522; Failed advisory processes permanently suppress future civic engagement in communities; Misrecognition and political exclusion structurally block poor communities’ participation in environmental decisions — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 248

Related

• Misrecognition and political exclusion structurally block poor communities’ participation in environmental decisions (similarity 0.89)
• Failed advisory processes permanently suppress future civic engagement in communities (similarity 0.86)
• Deliberative democracy fails without material equality among participants (similarity 0.82)
• Misrecognition creates structural obstacles that block political participation (similarity 0.79)
• Both mainstream environmentalism and civil rights ignored poor communities of color (similarity 0.78)
• Broad inclusion in decisions improves outcomes and fairness (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Misrecognition and political exclusion structurally block poor communities’ participation in environmental decisions #expands (0.85) — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 248