DemocracyNext and University College Dublin (UCD) School of Politics and International Relations are partnering to bring together deliberative democracy practitioners and academics to publish an edited volume on the models and lessons of embedded Citizens' Assemblies.
Over the past three decades, Citizens’ Assemblies have proliferated, with more than to 700 examples documented by the OECD. Since 2014, governments across the world have been institutionalising and embedding citizen deliberation and representation to improve collective decision making and strengthen democracy.
These new institutions have been connected to various public decision-making bodies at different levels of government, with diverse mandates. A wealth of practices has been generated and continues to emerge.
To take stock of the field, identify the status quo of embedding deliberative democracy in systemic ways, and draw lessons from existing examples, we are bringing together a group of 15-20 key people who are implementing, evaluating, and researching embedded Citizens’ Assemblies to publish an edited volume on the different approaches and lessons learned.
The objective is to better understand what approaches have been tried, what has worked well, and what could be improved, as well as to examine the impact on citizens, governments, policies, communities, and trust of these democratic innovations. There is an opportunity to lay a robust foundation for the next wave of new democratic institutions and produce insights that will be instrumental for policy makers, democratic innovators, and citizens designing and implementing these processes for a more just, joyful, and collaborative future.
As part of this work to bring together key contributors to the book we are hosting a workshop on August 16 2024 in Dublin, following the end of the ECPR General Conference.
