Citizens' assembly

Not to be confused with Popular assembly. For other uses, see Citizens' assembly (disambiguation).
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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.[1][2][3] Other types of deliberative mini-publics include citizens' jury, citizens' panel, people's panel, people's jury, policy jury, consensus conference and citizens' convention.[4][5][6][7]

A citizens' assembly uses elements of a jury to create public policy.[8] Its members form a representative cross-section of the public, and are provided with time, resources and a broad range of viewpoints to learn deeply about an issue. Through skilled facilitation, the assembly members weigh trade-offs and work to find common ground on a shared set of recommendations. Citizens' assemblies can be more representative and deliberative than public engagement, polls, legislatures or ballot initiatives.[9][10] They seek quality of participation over quantity. They also have added advantages in issues where politicians have a conflict of interest, such as initiatives that will not show benefits before the next election or decisions that impact the types of income politicians can receive. They also are particularly well-suited to complex issues with trade-offs and values-driven dilemmas.[11]

With Athenian democracy as the most famous government to use sortition, theorists and politicians have used citizens' assemblies and other forms of deliberative democracy in a variety of modern contexts.[12][13] As of 2023, the OECD has found their use increasing since 2010.[14][15]

  1. ^ Reuchamps, Min; Vrydagh, Julien; Welp, Yanina, eds. (2023-05-31). De Gruyter Handbook of Citizens' Assemblies. De Gruyter. doi:10.1515/9783110758269. ISBN 978-3-11-075826-9.. Section 1.2.
  2. ^ Dryzek, John S.; Bächtiger, André; Milewicz, Karolina (2011). "Toward a Deliberative Global Citizens' Assembly". Global Policy. 2 (1): 33–42. doi:10.1111/j.1758-5899.2010.00052.x. ISSN 1758-5880.
  3. ^ Pearse, Hilary; Warren, Mark, eds. (2008). Designing deliberative democracy: the British Columbia Citizens' Assembly. Theories of institutional design. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88507-2.
  4. ^ Crosby, Ned; Hottinger, John C. (2011). "The Citizens Jury Process". The Book of the States 2011. Council of State Governments: 321–325. Archived from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  5. ^ Česnulaitytė, Ieva (23 July 2020). "Models of representative deliberative processes". Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions. doi:10.1787/36f3f279-en. ISBN 9789264837621. S2CID 226688526.
  6. ^ Crosby, Ned; Kelly, Janet M.; Schaefer, Paul (1986). "Citizens Panels: A New Approach to Citizen Participation". Public Administration Review. 46 (2): 170–178. doi:10.2307/976169. ISSN 0033-3352. JSTOR 976169.
  7. ^ Pimbert, M. (eds) and Wakeford, T. (eds) (2001). PLA Notes 40 Deliberative Democracy and Citizen Empowerment. IIED.
  8. ^ Pimbert, Michel; Wakeford, Tom (October 2003). "Prajateerpu, Power and Knowledge: The Politics of Participatory Action Research in Development Part 1. Context, Process and Safeguards". Action Research. 1 (2): 184–207. doi:10.1177/14767503030012004. S2CID 144374547.
  9. ^ Manin, Bernard (1997). The principles of representative government. Cambridge University Press.
  10. ^ Pal, Michael (2012). "The Promise and Limits of Citizens' Assemblies: Deliberation, Institutions and the Law of Democracy" (PDF). Queen's University at Kingston. 38: 259–294. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-11-02. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
  11. ^ Susskind, Jamie (2022). "Chapter 20". The digital republic: on freedom and democracy in the 21st century. New York: Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-64313-901-2. OCLC 1259049405.
  12. ^ Talmadge, Eva (2023-02-01). "Citizens' assemblies: are they the future of democracy?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-04.
  13. ^ Floridia, Antonio (2018-09-06). Bächtiger, Andre; Dryzek, John S; Mansbridge, Jane; Warren, Mark (eds.). "The Origins of the Deliberative Turn". The Oxford Handbook of Deliberative Democracy: 34–54. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198747369.013.25. ISBN 9780198747369.
  14. ^ Česnulaitytė, Ieva (2020). "Chapter 3: Key Trends". Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions: Catching the Deliberative Wave. OECD. ISBN 9789264563186.
  15. ^ Mejia, Mauricio (2023-12-15). "2023 Trends in Deliberative Democracy: OECD Database Update". Participo. Retrieved 2024-06-12.