RENEWING DEMOCRACY:

CAN CITIZENS BE PART OF THE SOLUTION?

Democratic decay has revealed serious weaknesses in democratic systems worldwide, and has challenged those who design constitutions and institutions to re-think their models and assumptions. However, it has also revealed sources of resilience and has generated innovation and reference to a wider range of constitutional models.

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It’s fair to question whether ‘decay’ is the right metaphor to capture this phenomenon.
For instance, [Sadurski, Meyer…]
chicken and egg q

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‘STANDARD’ PROCESSES

ELECTIONS

Elections are the central mechanism in contemporary democracies to give a say over how they are governed. In parliamentary systems, the legislature (parliament) is directly elected and the government is then formed from within parliament. In presidential systems, both the executive (president) and legislature (congress) are directly elected.

REFERENDUMS & PLEBISCITES

Referendums and plebiscites are a key departure from representative government, in the sense that they empower citizens to have a more direct impact on decision-making. While such direct ‘popular’ votes have become more common in recent decades, since 2016 votes in the UK (Brexit), Australia, Chile, and Ireland have made some question their value.

LEGISLATIVE PROCESSES

Centralised constitutional review (where one top court is responsible for deciding whether laws and government action are compatible with the constitution) arguably makes it easier for anti-democratic.

OPINION POLLS

Centralised constitutional review (where one top court is responsible for deciding whether laws and government action are compatible with the constitution) arguably.

INNOVATIONS & LESS COMMON MECHANISMS

CITIZENS’ ASSEMBLIES

Citizens’ assemblies ordinarily convene 50-200 (average; 90) randomly-selected ordinary citizens to consider a policy challenge and make recommendations. First trialled in New Brunswick (Canada), such assemblies have become a key feature of Ireland’s political system and have proliferated across Europe.

DELIBERATIVE POLLING

In states such as the USA and Mongolia, deliberative polling has been employed to seek citizen’s views on specific issues. These provide a fuller process than ordinary public polls. Compared to citizens’ assemblies and citizen panels, they provide a less organised and engaged setting, involving a much higher number of citizens and employing self-selection rather than random selection.

CITIZENS’ PANELS

Similar to citizens’ assemblies, but usually with fewer participants (30-40), these operate in more localised settings (e.g. village, town, city). In states as diverse as Brazil, South Korea, Spain and Indonesia, they have been used to involve citizens in budget planning, service delivery, strategic planning, and crisis responses (e.g. in UK regions).

VILLAGE ASSEMBLIES

In states such as India and the Philippines, village assemblies are enshrined in the Constitution as local-level government structures to facilitate discussion and decision making that are closer to the people than national government agencies and procedures. Innovative thinking includes drawing on design principles for citizens’ assemblies to enhance how village assemblies function. See the article by Michael Yusingco featured below.