{"id":81685,"key":"Citizens'_assembly","title":"Citizens' assembly","latest":{"id":1274136,"timestamp":"2026-09-16T16:04:41Z"},"content_model":"wikitext","license":{"url":"https://www.appropedia.org/Appropedia:Copyrights","title":"CC-BY-SA-4.0"},"source":"{{PhotowantedCASwiki}}\n\nThis page is an introduction to Citizens' assemblies for community agency networks ([[Citizens Action Network handbook|CANs]]), community groups and anyone else interested in the development of more participatory {{W|Participatory democracy}} and deliberative democracy {{W|Deliberative democracy}} and governance.\n\n== News ==\n\n{{News card|keyword=Citizens assembly|limit=3|more=Citizens' assembly#News archive}}\n\n== Video ==\n\n<div class=\"grid\">\n\n{{Video\n| ogofW2_52Q4\n| title = Examining lessons from the permanent Paris citizens' assemblies [2025]\n| authors = DemocracyNext, ''9.38 mins.''\n| date = 2025-04-18\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| LSnG71auR8I\n| title = Deschutes Civic Assembly 2024\n| authors = DemocracyNext, ''7.10 mins.''\n| date = 2025-01-15\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = 7Ws3gttUO7g\n| title = Why global citizen voices are essential to global governance: Rich Wilson at BBC\n| authors = Global Assembly, ''6.13 mins.''\n| date = 2021-10-31\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = s4Vxsqo0Gbg\n| title = Innovating Local Democracy - Citizens' assemblies in Cambridge, Dudley and Test Valley\n| authors = Involve Foundation, ''6.37 mins.''\n| date = 2020-06-30\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = ErFCfmktUWA\n| title = Camden Climate Crisis Citizens Assembly - Cllr Georgia Gould\n| authors = CamdenCouncil, ''3.48 mins.''\n| date = 2019-07-15\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = k-E5tjVWUmE\n| title = The Citizens' Assembly on Social Care\n| authors = Involve Foundation, ''3.04 mins.''\n| date = 2018-06-26\n}}\n\n</div>\n\n== What is a Citizens Assembly? ==\n\n{{Wikipedia excerpt|Citizens' assembly}}\n\n'''Climate assembly'''\n\nThe term 'Climate assembly' is used here to mean any citizens assembly considering, either exclusively or otherwise, a response to climate change or climate emergency.\n\n''See also'': [[List of climate assemblies]]\n\n== Global assembly ==\n\n<div class=\"grid\">\n\n{{Video\n| video = GbdUMmf4KAo\n| title = The Global Assembly on Food and Climate\n| authors = Global Assembly, ''3.08 mins.''\n| date = 2026-06-29\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = NaY5doQMTH8\n| title = Izeldete Botelho, Global Assembly Member 2021, Brazil\n| authors = Global Assembly, ''8.03 mins.''\n| date = 2022-06-06\n}}\n\n{{Video\n| video = 3PUrN07Q50w\n| title = The Global Assembly for 2021\n| authors = Global Assembly, ''2.43 mins.''\n| date = 2021-06-24\n}}\n\n</div>\n\n* [https://globalassemblies.org/ Global Citizens’ Assembly], ''added 13:41, 18 July 2025 (UTC)''\n* [https://www.gcacoalition.org/ Coalition for a Global Citizens’ Assembly], Video: Global Assembly on [https://www.youtube.com/@globalassembly8969/videos youtube.com], ''added 16:48, 25 October 2024 (UTC)''\n\n== Disadvantages and criticism of Citizens' assemblies ==\n\nWhilst Assembly proponents can list a number of advantages {{W|Citizens' assembly#Opportunities}}, a number of disadvantages are also identified in Wikipedia's article {{W|Citizens' assembly#Concerns Expressed}}.\n\nA broad criticism is that whilst an assembly may involve a tiny minority of the public in a deliberative process, it doesn't necessarily allow them, or the wider public, also involvement in the design or evaluation of the process.\n\nAnother concern or criticism less often noticed or acknowledged is that Citizens' assemblies may not have any significant effect on the resources and empowerment of communities themselves, their groups and self-organised networks. In other words it is arguable that they may do little to challenge power imbalances. Citizens' assemblies have generally been conceptualized as quite resource intensive processes. For this reason it's perhaps understandable that much of the resources and learning about them has been from the point of view of local or national governments rather than local communities themselves and their ongoing learning, self development and the actualization of their agency. Generally perhaps they remain a 'done to' rather than a 'done with' thing.\n\nAn additional problem is that citizens' assemblies only allow a tiny minority of the public to participate in the decision-making. A citizens' assembly may make a decision that is unpopular with the public, because even though they are a representative sample, their views may change through the experience of the deliberations. As James Fishkin notes, there is an impossible triangle: the ideal democratic process should score well for equality, participation and quality deliberation, but it is not impossible to have all three at once. (Conversely, voting scores well for equality and participation, but poorly for deliberation.) This could be mitigated by complementing citizens' assemblies with other democratic processes, such as [[peoples assemblies]].\n\nFor these reasons, and even though their advantages can be recognised, Citizens' assemblies are not yet regarded here as a [[Community Action Projects|Community Action Project]].\n\n== How to's ==\n\n* How To Run A Citizens' Assembly: Handbook, [https://www.demsoc.org/public-square/articles/how-to-run-a-citizens-assembly-handbook demsoc.org/public-square], ''date not found, added 14:56, 19 November 2021 (UTC)''\n* [https://climateassemblies.org/ Climate Assemblies], Democracy in action. Includes guides to help start a climate assembly on a local level.\n\n== Other resources ==\n\n* [https://www.demnext.org/ DemocracyNext], international foundation working to accelerate the spread of high quality, empowered, and permanent citizens’ assemblies. DemocracyNext on [https://www.youtube.com/@DemocracyNext/videos youtube.com], ''added 18:18, 31 January 2025 (UTC)''\n* [https://www.buergerrat.de/ buergerrat.de], site which serves to document and support randomly selected citizen participation in Germany and beyond. ''added 17:26, 20 February 2025 (UTC)''\n* The Extinction Rebellion Guide to Citizens' Assemblies [https://rebellion.earth/wp/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/The-Extinction-Rebellion-Guide-to-Citizens-Assemblies-Version-1.1-25-June-2019.pdf]\n* Basic Standards for Organising Citizens’ Assemblies, May 22, 2019 [https://rebellion.earth/2019/05/22/basic-standards-for-organising-citizens-assemblies/ Extinction Rebellion]\n\n== News archive ==\n\n[[File:Cornmarket St, Oxford.jpg|thumb]]\n\n{{News card|keyword=Citizens assembly|year=2026}}\n\n{{News card|keyword=Citizens assembly|year=2025}}\n\n{{News card|keyword=Citizens assembly|year=2024}}\n\n{{News card|keyword=Citizens assembly|year=2023}}\n\n{{Card|text=\n* Citizens Assemblies: fashionable focus groups or the great hopes of democracy? May 11, 2021...[https://www.newlocal.org.uk/articles/citizens-assemblies/ newlocal.org.uk]\n\n'''The [[Scotland news|Scottish]] Citizens Assembly has concluded - and one of its big proposals is a \"House of Citizens\", as a second chamber for Holyrood''', Feb 8, 2021...[https://www.thealternative.org.uk/dailyalternative/2021/2/13/scottish-citizen-assembly-house-of-citizens thealternative.org.uk]\n\n* If democracy looks doomed, [[Extinction Rebellion]] may have an answer, John Harris, Aug 30, 2020...[https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/30/extinction-rebellion-democracy-climate-emergency-bill-citizens-assembly theguardian.com]\n* Could the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland change how politics is done for good? Mar 20, 2020...[https://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/could-the-citizens-assembly-of-scotland-change-how-politics-is-done-for-good/ @electoralreform]\n* When a neighbourhood assembly becomes a community by @kahui, Dec 16, 2019...[https://blog.wearefuturegov.com/when-a-neighbourhood-assembly-becomes-a-community-651550cdad04 blog.wearefuturegov.com]\n* How do we discover what matters most to people to help them thrive? noelito. Sep 14, 2019...[http://web.archive.org/web/20191112103229/https://medium.com/@noelito/how-do-we-discover-what-matters-most-to-people-to-help-them-thrive-d1b0296d7a1 medium.com]}}\n\n== See also ==\n\n* [[Climate action]], [[Climate news]]\n* [[Extinction Rebellion]], [[XR and future democracy]]\n* [[Camden]]\n* [[Towards a more democratic and climate friendly way of meeting housing need across England]]\n\n{{Community networks footer}}\n\n{{Localtopic}}\n\n{{CASwiki footer}}\n\n{{Page data\n| license = CC-BY-SA-3.0\n| description = Use the Appropedia map to find climate groups near you. Connect, learn, and take action with people working toward the same goals.\n}}\n\n[[Category:Community involvement]]"}