ABSTRACT
The recent WWViews process brings into sharp focus the challenges of citizen deliberations in global biodiversity negotiations. As a fledgling experiment in the democratization of global governance, the WWViews process fruitfully reveals by its limitations opportunities for radically rethinking both the knowledge required to govern complex systems, and the role of citizens therein. Two limitations of the process are directly relevant. First, at the level of the deliberation fora, challenges exist with respect to inclusion, impact and legitimacy which are well documented in the literature with respect to policy in general and the WWViews process in particular (Riedy and McGregor, 2011). These criteria are inherent in the deliberative project and derive from an external normative framework rooted in ideals of equality, justice and freedom. Deliberation is regarded as successful where these criteria are met.
