Conditions and outcomes of policy learning during deliberations among political elites: An analysis of the municipal councils and councilors in the Brussels-Capital Region

The objective of this paper is to propose an innovative approach to the study of democratic deliberation among political elites, as well as to look at the deliberations within the municipal councils of the Brussels-Capital Region using this approach. Formal public deliberations taking place among elected officials within the walls of legislative councils (e.g., parliaments or municipal councils) are often considered as a key element of healthy democracies. In such a context, fundamental differences in interests, goals and values, or even in ways of interpreting the situation, almost invariably make collective decision-making an adversarial process in which participants will advocate conflicting lines of action (Fairclough, 2015). In such deliberative context, policy learning can be the dynamic through which decision-makers (here, the legislators) revise or strengthen their policy beliefs and preferences over time based on the accumulation of evidence and on social interactions (Moyson et al., 2017). While collective decisions can be the result of power relations, existing research demonstrates that effective learning accelerates the development of shared understandings and mutual agreements, transform relationships among parties and, ultimately, facilitates decision-making based on stronger evidence (Riche et al., 2020). However, to the best of our knowledge, policy learning among elected officials has not been studied so far in the context of formal public deliberation (Alomar et al., 2020). What are the conditions and outcomes of policy learning in the context of formal democratic deliberations among political elites? To address this research question methodologically, a two-step approach was implemented: 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted with municipal council’s presidents (i.e., elected officials) and secretaries (i.e. civil servants) in the Belgian Region of Brussels-Capital. The data were thematically analyzed (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2016). Then, the results were confirmed based on two focus groups (Morgan, 1998) with municipal councilors. We find that 16 factors account for the acquisition of knowledge and opinion changes (i.e., policy learning) on three levels, namely: the macro level, which represents the general environment in which the municipal councils operate (7 factors); the meso level, which refers to the interpersonal relations among councilors (4 factors); and the micro level, which represents the factors at the individual level (5 factors). For example, the political and legal experience of councilors, the cordiality among them, and the partisanship to a regional or national political family have been mentioned as important determinants of collaborative policy learning among municipal councilors. Understanding and taking these factors into consideration may help to develop more collaborative and constructive deliberative environment within municipal councils, in particular, and deliberative settings, in general. We conclude with some implications and an agenda for future research.