Developing a Deliberative Democracy Methodology to Support Meaningful Civil Society Participation: A Case Study of vTaiwan

Abstract

The transformation of public participation through digital governance offers new opportunities for achieving a more inclusive and accountable government. One of the most notable innovations in this field is vTaiwan, a technology based deliberative platform designed to bridge dialogue between the government and the public in the Republic of China (Taiwan). However,
participation generated through vTaiwan remains limited and has not yet reached the level of meaningful engagement as defined within the framework of substantive deliberative democracy. This study aims to analyze the characteristics, effectiveness, and challenges of vTaiwan as a new media in shaping political decision-making legitimacy through expanded
citizen involvement in policy making processes. The analysis focuses on three main aspects: the top-down nature of issue selection, the lack of emotional engagement from citizens in the deliberative process, and critiques of structural and conceptual limitations embedded within the platform’s design. Theoretical frameworks employed in this research include deliberative democracy theory and Arnstein’s ladder of participation. By utilizing a descriptive qualitative approach through literature review and in-depth case analysis, this study finds that the success of a deliberative platform is highly influenced by its ability to foster psychologically and emotionally meaningful participation. Therefore, it recommends the development of
deliberative methodologies that are not only procedurally open, but also capable of creating emotional resonance and psychological relevance for platform users.