First German National Citizens’ Assembly on DemoPart: the Rise of the “Alloted Citizen”
There is something happening worldwide regarding the understanding of “democracy.” All over the world, more and more people are beginning to see representative party democracy as incomplete at best, highly problematic at worst.
On September 28 in Leipzig, “Phase 2” of the first ever German citizens’ assembly “Bürgerrat Demokratie” concluded its second and last weekend of deliberation on whether and how to “complete or improve [ergänzen]” Germany’s representative democracy “with elements of direct democracy or citizen participation.” On November 15, a day dubbed “Tag für die Demokratie,” the 160 participants, together with 100s more from the “regional conferences” from Phase 1, will ceremoniously present their recommendations to the President of the Bundestag, Dr Wolfgang Schäuble. I was present in Leipzig on all four days of the assembly as observer along with a few researchers, journalists, and an evaluation team from Goethe University’s “Democracy Innovation” lab. A camera crew filmed the entire event, including the small group discussion at one of the tables. The documentary will be released sometime in 2020.
This was a civil society initiative prompted by the “Grand Coalition”…
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Fila Sophia 