Five Types of Random Assemblies

Should be applied to the five stages of policy-making: A priority conference at the stage of issue identification identifies policy areas requiring government action and gauges the seriousness of a political problem. In design panels at the stage of policy evaluation, proposed ballots are evaluated and potentially revised before they are voted on. In citizens’ assemblies at the stage of policy recommendation, the members of the assembly forward recommendations for the legislature to the electorate to empower them for initiating a referendum. For the concrete vote on a referendum, the Citizens’ Initiate Review (CIR) develops one-page voters’ guides which are handed out to citizens to inform them about the consequences of the various decision alternatives. Policy juries as the fifth type of assemblies are a forum for citizen deliberation about pieces of legislation with concrete law-making power which are reviewed by the judicial branch.

Proponents: John Gastil, Robert Richards

For further interest on this topic:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0032329213483109

Category:
Reason for intervention

Institutional impact

Governance level

Maturity

Radicality

Legitimacy decision

Background