Citizens’ assemblies around the world

Citizens’ assemblies and similar deliberative processes such as citizens’ juries are becoming more and more popular across the world. From local to national level, citizens are becoming part of the decision-making process and are having the opportunity to engage in serious, informed discussions  on many important policy issues.

This page highlights previous and ongoing assemblies and their outcomes.

Climate Assembly UK, 2020

Climate Assembly UK discussed and deliberated on how to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The assembly considered how energy, land, materials, and negative emissions technology are used today. The results showed that:

• 79% of members agreed that, “Steps taken by the government to help the economy recover should be designed to help achieve net-zero”;
• 93% agreed that, “As lockdown eases, government, employers and/or others should take steps to encourage lifestyles to change to be more compatible with reaching net-zero.”

Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat, France 2020

The Convention Citoyenne pour le Climat considered “How to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in France by at least 40% (in relation to 1990’s levels) by 2030, in the spirit of social justice?”. The members were split into five groups covering transport, food, consumption, work, and production and housing. Proposals put forward by the Convention will either be directly enacted, put to a national referendum, or put to a parliamentary vote.

Please read more at: French citizens’ council on the environment proposes making ‘ecocide’ illegal (france24.com)

Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland, 2019-2020

The Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland is ongoing and seeks to address three questions:

• What kind of country are we seeking to build?
• How best can we overcome the challenges Scotland and the world face in the 21st century, including those arising from Brexit?
• What further work should be carried out to give us the information we need to make informed choices about the future of the country?

National Assembly for Wales, 2019

Welsh citizens came together to form an assembly on how people in Wales can shape their future. Members discussed what areas they felt were working well in Wales and also what key challenges they felt they faced. A prominent focus was how can the public engage with decision makers at the National Assembly. Interestingly, an overwhelming majority of participants agreed that citizens’ assemblies should be used in the future.

Citizens’ Assembly on Social Care, England 2018

The Citizens’ Assembly on Social Care considered how adult social care should be funded in England. The Assembly put forward a number of principles needed to guide social care funding arrangements, including being fair and universal. The Assembly proposed social care should be publicly funded and outline set of arrangements that would cap private financing. The findings from the Assembly later influenced the work of the Government’s Green Paper.

Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit, UK 2017

The Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit faced the challenge of addressing what the UK’s post-Brexit relations with the European Union should be, focusing on trade and migration. On trade, members preferred a bespoke trade deal and a customs union that would allow the UK to conduct its own international trade policy while maintaining a frictionless UK/EU border. On migration, the Assembly voted to retain free movement of labour, but with the UK government exercising all available controls to prevent abuse of the system. 

The Citizens’ Assembly, Republic of Ireland 2016 – 2018

The Citizens’ Assembly of Ireland considered five separate issues, the ban on abortion, aging population, fixed term parliaments, referendums, and climate change. One of the Assembly’s most significant recommendations was to repeal the ban on abortion, a politically contentious issue at the time. Of the Assembly members, 64% voted in favour of “terminations without restrictions”. This was reflected in a national referendum, in which the wider society also voted in favour of legalising abortion, with a 66.4% majority.

Convention on the Constitution, Republic of Ireland 2012

The Convention on the Constitution (similar to a citizens’ assembly), deliberated nine issues of which three have been put to referendum. Two took place in 2015, to legalise same-sex marriage and to reduce the age of eligibility for presidency from 35 to 21. The marriage equality legislation was passed by a majority of 62.1%.

Deliberative democracy in the United States of America

CNN report. General presentation of deliberative democracy, with an example from the USA and other European countries.

Citizen’s Assembly in Belgium

The aim of the summit was to revive democracy in Belgium, a country which had been without a government for more than 500 days. The 1,000 citizens who gathered debated the themes they felt were most important: social security, immigration and prosperity in times of financial crisis.

Bürgerrat Demokratie – Experience from Germany

Citizens of Germany discuss their experience in participating in deliberative democracy: