Citizens' Assembly Report

Sortition-based citizens' assemblies have been used in Germany since 1972. Since 2024, Mehr Demokratie and the Institute for Democracy and Participation Research (IDPF) at the University of Wuppertal present reports on this instrument of democracy.

Until the launch of the Citizens' Assembly Database in 2024, sortition-based citizen participation have not been centrally and uniformly recorded and documented. The reports provide systematic overviews of the practice of mini-publics in Germany for the period 2000 to 2025.

The diversity of sortition-based democracy

The aim of the reports is to capture the full diversity of sortition-based participation. ‘Citizens’ assembly‘ is therefore to be understood here as a broad generic term for different formats such as citizens’ forum, planning cell, citizens‘ dialogue or future dialogue. What is meant here are always formats with randomly selected citizens who discuss political topics in group discussions and usually develop recommendations such as citizens’ reports.

The reports provide an overview of where and how mini-publics have been held in Germany. It also takes an in-depth look at the topics of institutionalisation, special formats and the impact of citizens’ assemblies.