DemocracyNext

Join us for the launch of "Spaces for deliberation: Eight spatial qualities for designing deliberative assemblies", a new paper by DemocracyNext's Cities Programme Lead James MacDonald-Nelson, and research fellow Gustav Kj?r Vad Nielsen. Through interviews with practitioners from Canada, Colombia, Belgium, Denmark, Australia, and the USA, this research explores some key spatial qualities for successful citizen deliberation. We will be joined by Sarah Yaffe, Felipe Rey, and Johan Galster, as they share how they balance practical needs with creating welcoming atmospheres through thoughtful material choices, decorative elements, and spatial arrangements. Whether you're organising citizens' assemblies or interested in democratic innovation, this conversation offers insights for creating environments where diverse citizens can effectively deliberate on society's challenges.

?? Congratulations to our International Advisory Council Member, David Van Reybrouck, for being nominated as the "Thinker of the Year" in Belgium and the Netherlands for the next two years.

Looking forward very much to this conversation at University of Birmingham as part of the Political Studies Association (UK) Conference next month with Nicole Curato and Dimitri Courant.

“The extent to which workers participate in organizational decision making can spill over to impact their expectations of and participation in civic life… It is critical to recognize that questions of democracy and authoritarianism concern not only the political contexts in which organizations are embedded but also how organizations themselves are structured and contribute to society.” Super interesting new paper by Julie Battilana, Christine Beckman, and Julie Yen that presents evidence as to why the structures of decision making within organisations matters more broadly for democracy. This is a core part of the motivators behind our work on democratising workplace decision making with the principles of deliberative democracy at DemocracyNext with Arantzazulab, MONDRAGON Corporation, and MIT Center for Constructive Communication. There’s a big focus on government right now. But we’ve replicated a lot of the same oligarchic structures in other organisations of daily life. If we truly want a thriving society of citizens with strong democratic muscles, we need to democratise economic, financial, cultural, educational, and other institutions alongside building new democratic institutions for government ??

?‘How Can Democracy Survive the Broligarchy?' Our International Advisory Council Member Nicole Curato will be giving a keynote at this year's Political Studies Association Annual Conference, making the case for global deliberative democracy. ?? 14-16 April - Birmingham (in person only) Sign up by Monday 24 March ??

Are workplaces the next frontier for deliberative democracy? ?? We're thrilled to introduce an exciting new project in collaboration with MONDRAGON Corporation, the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, and Arantzazulab to democratise workplace governance with the principles of deliberative democracy, supported by technology. We are extraordinarily lucky that MONDRAGON Corporation has opened its doors to more pioneering ideas. Already it is the biggest entity based in the Basque Country in Spain, with €11 billion of sales, more than 65,000 workers, and 240 businesses, more than 80 of which are cooperatives. Our experiments in the workplace aim to replicate the sense of engagement, purpose, and joy that we associate with more policy-related citizens’ assemblies. The future of work is collaborative and democratic, and we’re leading the charge! Read more in this week's DemNext Newsletter ?? #CitizensAssemblies #WorkplaceDemocracy #EconomicInstitutions #Deliberation #Sortition #Innovation #Governance #Coops Naiara Goia Ione Ardaiz Osacar Oier Imaz Alias I?igo I?urrategi Irizar Claudia Chwalisz Lucy Reid Dimitra Dimitrakopoulou Marina Rakhilin, MSW Maya Detwiller Simon Pek Sonja Novkovic

“AI already makes awful institutions and popular governments worse, forcing us to rethink some basic elements of democracy.” Late last year, Professor Lawrence Lessig (Harvard Law Professor, founder of Creative Commons and Equal Citizens, and former candidate in the US Presidential primaries) spoke at the The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) about the potential impact of AI on the 2024 American election and the future of democracy. His lecture highlighted a troubling trend: as political communities become more fragmented, AI may accelerate the decline of popular government. While the challenges are significant, Lessig offers a powerful solution:? Citizens' Assemblies. Rather than trying to fix the democracy we have, Lessig suggests we should encourage a new, more innovative approach to democracy - one that’s: ? Random ? Representative ? Informed ? Deliberated When it comes to "What is to be done?", Lessig points to leaders of the movement for more citizens' assemblies: the author David Van Reybrouck, the philosopher Hélène Landemore, both members of DemocracyNext's Advisory Council, and activist Claudia Chwalisz, our Founder and CEO. (45m-56m30s) “If the some can stand for all, then we can begin to have a transformative opportunity for the idea of democratic representation.” Citizens’ assemblies are designed as brave spaces for creative problem-solving. By giving people more agency in decision-making, we believe these assemblies can strengthen trust, build a stronger sense of belonging, and reduce polarisation. The result? More legitimate, informed decisions and policies that reflect the needs and values of the people. We’ve seen firsthand how effective they can be. We agree with Lessig’s call that, "we need this innovation because it's existential for democracy.” And we’re encouraging ambitious change beyond one-off events; we want to see more citizens’ assemblies established as permanent democratic institutions. Let’s invest in our collective intelligence and build a democracy that works for everyone. #DemocracyNext #CitizensAssemblies #AIandDemocracy #FutureOfPolitics #TransformativeChange

It was great to formally kick off this collaboration last week! ?? DemNext colleagues Claudia Chwalisz and Lucy Reid are looking forward to going to the Basque Country in early April to continue our learning sessions and begin designing the experiments in workplace governance and decision-making. We'll be sharing more info in DemocracyNext's newsletter this week as well (sign up via our LinkedIn page or via the link in the comments if you'd like to stay in the loop!).

In an uncertain world we need more democracy – not less That's why it was crucial that with the help of the Nordisk Ministerr?d (Nordic Council of Ministers) it was still possible to gather actors from the deliberative democracy scene from 6 different countries after the US National Endowment for Democracy withdrew its funding for the project! ? This fall, Vilnius will host its first citizens' assembly on urban transportation. In collaboration with DemocracyNext, Zakia Elvang and Klara S?rensen spent three days training the Vilnius team and other practitioners from across the region in facilitating citizens' assemblies according to the OECD - OCDE's principles for high-quality deliberative processes. ? Citizens' assemblies are inherently complex, particularly within the facilitated space where meaningful dialogue unfolds between participants. A successful process requires careful navigation, as citizens must not only grasp the purpose of their participation but also establish relationships, deepen their understanding of the topic, enhance their democratic competencies, engage in deliberation, and ultimately reach well-informed decisions. This underscores the critical importance of strategic process design and skilled facilitation. In our 2.5-day training, we addressed the following key areas: ? ?? ?Roles of organizer, facilitator and comissioner ????Macro design ?? ?Process flow and design ?? ?Whole Brain as a model for learning and facilitation preferences ?? ?Program planning ?? ?Micro design - process tools and methods ?? ?The good facilitator ??? Group decision making ? This won't be the last time We Do Democracy organizes a facilitation course, if you are interested in being contacted next time, please write to klara@wedodemocracy.dk ? Thanks to James MacDonald-Nelson, Hannah Terry and Ieva ?esnulaityt? for three wonderful days! #DrevetAfDeltagelse #MereOgBedreDemokrati #DeliberativeDemocracy #Facilitation

Great to see this handy new resource for funders about citizens' assemblies from our friends at New America and the Democracy Funders Network ?? Our CEO and Founder Claudia Chwalisz was interviewed for this guide, and we were happy to share our various resources, like the DemNext Assembling an Assembly Guide (https://lnkd.in/dss5vH-e) that's based on the deep research that Claudia and Ieva ?esnulaityt? had done previously at the OECD. We need more assemblies in more places, so we hope that this resource will help more funders to get involved in growing the movement. At DemNext, we believe it's important citizens' assemblies are more than one-off events, and get anchored in as new institutions for ongoing citizen deliberation and real shifts in power. Another democratic future is possible ? https://www.demnext.org/ #CitizensAssemblies #Democracy #Deliberation #Sortition #Innovation