Les « méthodologues » du G1000 et du G100 : entre activisme citoyen et recherche scientifique

The aim of this contribution is to offer a critical feedback from two political science researchers involved in two experiments of deliberative democracy organised in Belgium: the G1000 and the G100. The first one was born in 2011 at the national level and gathered more than 700 people in a context of political crisis due to the absence of a federal government. The second was inspired by the first, but was organised locally in the commune of Grez-Doiceau and brought together 50 participants. In both cases, the authors of this paper were part of the organising team. After a brief description of these, we highlight elements of tension between this researcher's posture and that of an actor. First, we show that the greater influence of political scientists in the first case strongly influenced the design of the G1000 from a deliberative perspective. Secondly, we show that political science researchers are seen as real engineers by the initiators of participatory mechanisms and that their presence is used as an argument of legitimisation towards the outside world. Finally, we analyse the particularity of the posture of researchers compared to consultants