Citizens’ assemblies: a better way of doing democracy?
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905817744632 |
| Author | Alan Renwick |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
24 POLITICAL INSIGHT • DECEMBER 2017
The idea that we should nd ways
to make our democracy more
deliberative is gaining momentum.
Amidst concerns over ‘post-truth’
politics, ‘fake news’, and the deepening of
social media echo chambers, there is a wide
desire to encourage more listening across
the divides and more respect for alternative
perspectives.
So-called ‘deliberative mini-publics’ (DMPs),
such as citizens’ juries and citizens’ assemblies,
oer one promising route to achieving that.
They gather together randomly selected
citizens for anything from a day to several
weeks. The members hear from experts and
discuss in depth among themselves before
reaching conclusions. Their discussions are
moderated by trained facilitators to maximise
the chances that everyone’s voice is heard
and respected and that the deliberations
Citizens’ assemblies:
a better way of doing
democracy?
There is widespread disquiet over the quality of debate surrounding
Brexit – both during last year’s referendum and since. But is there a
better alternative? Alan Renwick reflects on lessons he learned from
directing the recent Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit.
stay on topic. The most ambitious DMPs –
large-scale citizens’ assemblies in Canada, the
Netherlands, and Ireland – have generated
very high quality deliberation and in some
cases fed into subsequent policy-making
processes. There is growing evidence that
DMPs, if well designed and well resourced,
provide a means for bringing informed and
considered public opinion to bear upon major
public policy issues.
But important questions remain. Not least
among these is whether DMPs work in the
context of existing polarised policy debates.
Several of the large-scale ocial citizens’
assemblies have focused on electoral reform
– an important topic, but not one that many
© Cade Hannan
Political Insight December 2017.indd 24 03/11/2017 10:54
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