The deliberative democracy wave
These days, there is talk of an international wave of deliberative democracy: countries like Ireland, Scotland, Germany, France, Belgium and Canada have already experimented with citizen assemblies and innovative forms of democracy – and in some places, participatory solutions have become part of government offices.
Here at home, we are also well on our way to expanding the toolbox of how democracy is made vibrant and participatory between elections, and in October 2023, We Do Democracy hosted a major networking conference for the world’s leading democracy experts.
Copenhagen as a meeting place
On October 3-5, 2023, Copenhagen was the international meeting place for democracy development. This happened when We Do Democracy, the Danish Board of Technology, the University of Copenhagen and the international network Democracy R&D brought together leading experts and practitioners from around the world to share and discuss ideas and research on the potential of deliberative democracy.
With support from TrygFonden, the knowledge shared at the conference has been made available on this page – for inspiration for anyone who dreams of working with participatory democracy in Denmark.
Below you will find interviews with the world’s leading democracy experts, keynote presentations and plenary sessions from the conference as well as a selection of cases, workshop materials, mood photos and an explanatory video on deliberative democracy.
Get a taste of deliberative democracy
What is participatory democracy and what are the elements of a citizen assembly?
In this explainer, you’ll get a two-minute introduction to deliberative democracy and the way Denmark and other countries work with citizen assemblies:
Five experts talk about the potential of deliberative democracy
Peter MacLeod is one of Canada’s leading experts on public engagement. He explains how the deliberative wave emerged 20 years ago and why he believes our democratic imagination should be expanded.
Claudia Chwalisz is the director of the international research center DemocracyNext and has researched deliberative democracy processes on a global scale. Based on her analysis, she explains how citizen assemblies can help create systemic change.
Jonathan Moskovic is an advisor to the President of the French-speaking Parliament in Brussels. He explains how to ensure ownership among politicians in citizens’ assemblies and how the recommendations in citizens’ assemblies can be translated into real policy.
Doreen Grove is a civil servant in the Scottish Government and has been very successful in driving citizen-driven decision-making in Scotland. Listen to her talk about how citizens’ assemblies give ordinary people a sense of being heard in politics.
Christoph Ellersgaard is a sociologist and associate professor at Copenhagen Business School. He researches power elites in Denmark and gives his perspective on how the growing distrust in society is creating fertile ground for alternative forms of democracy in Denmark.
Video highlights from the conference provide more background
When international experts and practitioners in the deliberative field met in Copenhagen in October 2023, the main agenda items of the conference were recorded.
Below you will find perspective-rich keynote speeches and plenary sessions that provide insight into democratic trends and challenges in relation to the ongoing conversation and work with deliberative democracy in Denmark.
Keynote with Jane Suiter: Professor and Director of Dublin City University’s Institute for Future Media, Democracy, and Society and Head of Research at Ireland’s Constitutional Convention and the Citizens’ Assembly.
Keynote with Jon Alexander: Co-founder of the New Citizenship Project, a UK strategy and innovation consultancy, and author of “Citizens: Why the key to fixing everything is all of us”.
Keynote with Nicole Curato: Professor of Sociology at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance at the University of Canberra and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Deliberative Democracy.
The Danish research group DIGT under the University of Copenhagen shares their latest analysis on citizen collections in Denmark.
Panel discussion on the future of citizen collections with a special focus on their potential in the green transition.
Keynote with Editor-in-Chief Rune Lykkeberg on the future of deliberative democracy and debate with Peter MacLeod.
Inspirational conversation between Australian professor Nicole Curato, activist Esther Kjeldahl and power researcher Christoph Ellersgaard.
Presentation on democracy development in the Global South – and what the North and South can learn from each other about deliberative methods.
An example of Democracy Fitness – how to train your dissent muscle facilitated by Kathrine Krone
Dive into selected cases
Here you will find case examples of Danish and international citizen gatherings that shed even more light on the ideas and experiences behind the deliberative democracy wave.
Experience the conference in pictures
Further inspiration
If you want to read more about citizens’ assemblies, the OECD principles and everything that’s happening in the deliberative field, we’ve gathered the best links and sources of inspiration here.
Democracy Next
An a-z guide on how to initiate a citizen assembly/citizen consultation, as well as drive and implement recommendations:
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Federation Democracy Innovation Europe
Policy note on how to link the work of citizen assemblies with parliamentary processes and actors:*
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Policy note on the permanent citizens’ council in Paris:
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OECD
Principles for deliberative processes developed from 600 international examples:
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8 examples of how to institutionalize deliberative democracy:
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OECD’s updated database with a complete overview of citizen collections and citizen things that follow the OECD principles, including the Danish citizen collections:
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Copenhagen Municipality
Example. what an attitude towards politicians looked like on the back of a town hall meeting:
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Varieties of Democracy
The Swedish Research Institute V-Dem’s latest report on the global state of democracy:
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