Publication

Citizens assemblies and the role of narratives

2021
Talks

Abstract

Reducing CO2 emissions, restricting pesticides to protect health and biodiversity, enhancing corporate responsibility: why is Switzerland, one of the more democratic countries of the world, repeatedly failing to create a proper societal dialogue to face today’s challenges? What can we do about it? What does it take to create truly participative and deliberative democracies? The Academic Citizens’ Assembly is a vision, a process and a prototype of such a democracy, first held in June 2021. What did we learn, and what can we do next to improve and scale? Will you join our next edition?

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2021
Talks

Abstract

Official source

Related concepts (31)

Participatory democracy

Participatory democracy, participant democracy or participative democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected representatives. Elements of direct and representative democracy are combined in this model. Participatory democracy is a type of democracy, which is itself a form of government. The term "democracy" is derived from the Greek expression δημοκρατία (dēmokratia) (δῆμος/dēmos: people, Κράτος/kratos: rule).

Citizens' assembly

A citizens' assembly is a group of people selected by lottery from the general population to deliberate on important public questions so as to exert an influence. Other names and variations include citizens' jury, citizens' panel, people's panel, mini-publics, people's jury, policy jury, citizens' initiative review, consensus conference and citizens' convention. A citizens' assembly uses elements of a jury to create public policy.

Deliberative democracy

Deliberative democracy or discursive democracy is a form of democracy in which deliberation is central to decision-making. Deliberative democracy seeks quality over quantity by limiting decision-makers to a smaller but more representative sample of the population that is given the time and resources to focus on one issue. It often adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere voting, is the primary source of legitimacy for the law.