4 April 2024, The Utrecht Logic in Progress Series (TULIPS), Davide Grossi

Abstract: I will present a model of deliberative processes. The model focuses on a setting in which a community wishes to identify a strongly supported proposal from a large space of alternatives, in order to change a 'status quo' alternative. Agents dynamically form coalitions around proposals that they prefer over the status quo. Using this model I will show how the properties of the underlying abstract space of proposals and the ways in which agents can form coalitions affect the success of deliberation in identifying consensus positions. We show that, as the complexity of the proposal space increases, more complex forms of coalition formation are required in order to guarantee success. Intuitively, this seems to suggest that complex deliberative spaces require more sophisticated coalition formation abilities on the side of the agents. The model aims at providing theoretical foundations for the analysis of deliberative processes in platforms for democratic deliberation support.
This is joint work with Edit Elkind (University of Oxford), Ehud Shapiro (Weizmann Institute) and Nimrod Talmon (Ben-Gurion University).