Challenges of non-state supported sortition-selected forums

Anyone working with traditional citizens’ assemblies today – whether organising, researching or providing political support – should ask themselves honestly: do I want to continue to be involved in processes that can ultimately simply be ignored? That is the view of the Neue Generation (New Generation). The organisation believes that state-organised mini-publics are being structurally sidelined or cancelled altogether, whilst at the same time authoritarian forces are growing stronger.

According to Neue Generation, randomly selected citizens' assemblies have the potential to be an important part of the solution. They should therefore be used as widely as possible – even beyond parliaments. Neue Generation has therefore conducted a study on 68 mini-publics that were initiated and carried out in Germany outside institutionalised political structures. This was followed by a four-day workshop that examined the potential and challenges of such extra-parliamentary citizens' assemblies.

This event organised by the International Network of Sortition Advocates (INSA) will present the findings of the study and the workshop.

Background: Randomised citizen participation in Germany: Citizens’ Assemblies Database