Building democratic resilience through public deliberation
How can locally grounded mechanisms of public deliberation help democracies withstand pressures such as institutional capture, political violence, declining trust, corruption, social exclusion, polarisation, and shrinking civic space? This online roundtable invites participants from across Africa and beyond to explore that question together.
The conversation will compare experiences from different political and institutional contexts and critically examine both the potential and the limits of public deliberation. The participants will look at how power and citizen participation operate in different settings; whether deliberative processes can strengthen inclusion, accountability, conflict management, and public trust; and what safeguards, capacities, and institutional designs are needed to make these mechanisms credible rather than controlled or cosmetic.
Featuring voices from across the continent:
- Gilbert A. Angana – Kenya
- Sam Jevany Hart – Ethiopia
- Brian Ncube – Zimbabwe
- Fadumo Abdi Ali – Somalia
- Mastane Moadiai – Mauritania
- Cheikina Habib – South Africa