Citizens’ Assemblies and other forms of deliberative democracy are increasingly being used around the world to help ordinary people solve difficult public problems. These processes aim to create better decisions by bringing together randomly selected citizens, providing access to evidence and expert advice, and creating space for careful listening and deliberation.
WHAT IS A CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLY?
A Citizens’ Assembly brings together a randomly selected group of ordinary people who broadly reflect the wider population. Participants are usually selected by civic lottery (sortition) and balanced to reflect diversity in age, gender, geography, ethnicity, education and political outlook.
Over a series of sessions, participants hear evidence from experts, question witnesses directly, deliberate in facilitated groups, and work towards recommendations for government or the wider community.
Unlike social media or adversarial politics, the process is designed to reward careful listening, compromise, critical thinking and long-term perspectives.
The OECD has described deliberative democracy as one of the most promising democratic innovations of recent decades.
► OECD report: Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions
WHY DOES THIS MATTER?
Many people feel that modern political systems are increasingly dominated by billionaires, corporate lobbying, short election cycles and media manipulation. On major issues such as inequality, housing, climate change and public services, governments often struggle to pursue long-term solutions.
Research repeatedly shows that when ordinary people are given time, good information and skilled facilitation, they are often capable of reaching thoughtful and cooperative conclusions — even on highly polarised issues.
Stanford’s Deliberative Democracy Lab has conducted extensive international research into deliberative processes and public reasoning.
IRELAND: BREAKING POLITICAL DEADLOCK
Ireland became internationally famous for its use of Citizens’ Assemblies and constitutional conventions. For decades, Irish politicians were effectively paralysed on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion law reform because political parties feared backlash from powerful conservative institutions, particularly the Catholic Church.
A Citizens’ Assembly and earlier Constitutional Convention brought together ordinary citizens to hear evidence, listen to people with opposing perspectives, and propose pathways forward. Because the recommendations came from ordinary people rather than political elites, they carried significant legitimacy.
Ireland went on to legalise same-sex marriage and reform abortion laws following these deliberative processes.
► The Citizens’ Assembly of Ireland
FRANCE: CLIMATE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
France established the Citizens’ Convention on Climate following widespread social unrest, including the Yellow Vest protests. 150 randomly selected citizens were asked to develop proposals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining social justice.
Participants produced ambitious recommendations across transport, housing, advertising, aviation, taxation, consumption and energy policy. The process demonstrated that ordinary people were often willing to support stronger climate action than politicians assumed.
Detailed information about the French Climate Convention is available through the OECD and other democratic innovation networks.
► Centre for Climate Safety: Promising results from a citizens’ climate convention
ICELAND: DEMOCRATIC RENEWAL AFTER THE GFC
After the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, Iceland experienced major public protests over banking failures, corruption and inequality. Citizens mobilised to demand accountability from political and financial elites.
Iceland then used deliberative democratic processes and large-scale citizen participation to help draft a new constitution. While the final constitution was never fully implemented politically, Iceland became an international symbol of democratic renewal led by ordinary people.
The Icelandic constitutional process has been widely discussed internationally as an experiment in participatory democracy.
► Overview of Iceland’s constitutional reform process
UNITED KINGDOM: GROWING MOMENTUM
The United Kingdom has increasingly experimented with deliberative democracy at both local and national levels.
Examples include Climate Assembly UK, local assemblies on transport and planning, and proposals for permanent national citizens’ institutions.
► Climate Assembly UK brought together ordinary citizens to examine pathways toward net zero emissions.
► There is a growing campaign by Assemble and House of the People to replace the House of Lords with a Citizens’ Assembly.
AUSTRALIA: IMPORTANT EARLY EXPERIMENTS
Australia has quietly become an important pioneer in deliberative democracy.
Australia’s first Citizens’ Assembly was held in Canberra in 2009. In 2014, the City of Melbourne commissioned a People’s Panel to make recommendations for its ten-year $5 billion financial plan, with 10 of 11 recommendations accepted.
The City of Sydney undertook a similar process in 2018. In South Australia, a Citizens’ Jury helped examine proposals for a nuclear waste facility and ultimately contributed to the proposal being rejected.
► The newDemocracy Foundation has documented many Australian deliberative democracy processes.
OTHER FORMS OF DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY
Citizens’ Assemblies are part of a broader family of democratic innovations:
Citizens’ Juries involve smaller groups examining a specific issue in depth.
Participatory budgeting allows communities to help decide how public money should be spent.
Deliberative polling allows participants to learn about issues before being surveyed again, producing more informed public opinion.
We would like to see a permanent Citizens’ Chamber that sits alongside our elected parliament and provides a long-term mechanism for informed public deliberation.
► Participedia maintains a global database of democratic innovations and participatory processes.