Deliberative Framing by Opinion: Insights from the 2023 French Convention on the End of Life

This research note analyzes the use of opinion groups as a deliberative framework within the 2023 French Citizens’ Convention on the End of Life (CCEL), an innovation of that convention. Utilizing in-person observation, interviews, and written materials from the Convention, the research note seeks to explore why the Convention employed opinion groups, what theoretical questions these groups raised, what impact they had on the deliberation overall, and how these elements might inform future deliberative projects. In doing so, I combine these insights with debates in deliberative democracy to identify further questions related to how framing informs outcomes and is itself a unique dimension of the governance of deliberative democracy.