Professionalizing deliberation: a Social Network Analysis of UK climate mini-publics

Abstract Deliberative mini-publics have become an increasingly prominent feature of climate governance across advanced democracies. In the United Kingdom, their rapid expansion has been accompanied by the emergence of a professional deliberative field composed of facilitators, recruitment agencies, advisory bodies, expert witnesses, and network organizations. While existing scholarship debates whether professionalization enhances deliberative quality or introduces risks of marketization and elite capture, there is limited empirical evidence on how influence, standards, and authority are structured within this field. This article addresses that gap by mapping the actors involved in the design and delivery of UK climate mini-publics using qualitative social network analysis. The analysis examines how professional ties shape the circulation of expertise, standards, and backstage decision-making. The findings identify important and influential actors within the network, and their place within the wider industry. Here, we highlight the unequal concentration and clustering within the network. Rather than finding clear evidence of elite capture, the analysis reveals a form of structural dependency. Responsibility and authority are frequently transferred from commissioning bodies to facilitators, concentrating influence in a small number of actors. While these actors often act as safeguards of deliberative integrity, this reliance also introduces fragility, risks of stagnation, and uneven standards across the field. The article concludes that professionalization is neither inherently corrosive nor unproblematic. By foregrounding the networked architecture of deliberation, the study contributes a new perspective on how democratic innovations are governed, stabilized, and constrained in practice.