Strengthening local citizen participation – embracing greater democracy through citizens’ assemblies

Democracy thrives on participation. The Castrop-Rauxel Council and local administration are also currently exploring ways to provide citizens with more opportunities to get involved.

One form of participation that is becoming increasingly important, particularly at local authority level, is the randomly selected Citizens’ Assembly. These enable citizens from all sections of the population, regardless of party politics, to engage actively with important local issues and help shape decisions at a local level.

The recommendations made by citizens’ assemblies ensure a local voice and provide town councillors with an important, constructive basis for decision-making.

Thorsten Sterk from Mehr Demokratie explains in his talk how the process of randomly selected citizens’ assemblies works and how it can be successfully implemented in practice.