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DIRECT DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY

OECD Public Governance Policy Papers, No. 12, 14 December 2021 

This guide for public officials and policy makers outlines eight models for institutionalising representative public deliberation to improve collective decision making and strengthen democracy. 

Increasingly, public authorities are reinforcing democracy by making use of deliberative processes in a structural way, beyond one-off initiatives that are often dependent on political will. 

The guide provides examples of how to create structures that allow representative public deliberation to become an integral part of how certain types of public decisions are taken. 

Eight models to consider for implementation: 

1. Combining a permanent citizens’ assembly with one-off citizens’ panels

2. Connecting representative public deliberation to parliamentary committees 

3. Combining deliberative and direct democracy

4. Standing citizens’ advisory panels 

5. Sequenced representative deliberative processes throughout the policy cycle 

6. Giving people the right to demand a representative deliberative process 

7. Requiring representative public deliberation before certain types of public decisions 

8. Embedding representative deliberative processes in local strategic planning 

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A New Wave of Deliberative Democracy CLAUDIA CHWALISZ NOVEMBER 26, 2019 ARTICLE 

On February 25, 2019, in Ostbelgien (the German-speaking community of Belgium), parliament voted to establish a Citizens’ Council, a new democratic institution developed to complement the elected parliamentary chamber.1 The first of its kind to be embedded in legislation, the permanent council launched on September 16. It is the latest development in a new wave of contemporary deliberative democracy, based on the premise that political decisions should be the result of reasonable discussion among citizens. 

The council’s inaugural twenty-four members will rotate out over an eighteen-month period; every six months, eight members will be replaced by a new group.2 New members will be randomly invited through a civic lottery. The council has two mandated roles. First, it is tasked with selecting up to three issues to assign to citizens’ assemblies. 

Each assembly will have up to fifty randomly selected citizens and meet a minimum of three times over three months to deliberate and develop recommendations for parliament. Parliament is then required by law to debate the recommendations at least twice, after which it, the government, the relevant commission, and the responsible minister must reply. The council’s second role is to monitor the parliamentary debates and the progress made in implementing any agreed-upon actions. 

Within a few years, every resident of Ostbelgien—a community of around 80,000 people—will have received an invitation to participate in either the Citizens’ Council or a Citizens’ Assembly.

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Open government strategies and initiatives are based on the principles of transparency, integrity, accountability and stakeholder participation. The OECD supports governments in designing and implementing policies by providing policy advice and recommendations on how to integrate these core principles into public sector reforms.