Democracy without Politicians (Claudia Chwalisz)

<p>Instead of electing politicians to represent us…what if we just represented ourselves? Peer to peer. Neighbor to neighbor. Baratunde talks with <a href="https://twitter.com/claudiachwalisz">Claudia Chwalisz</a> about citizens’ assemblies—groups randomly-selected by lottery that are shifting political and legislative power into the hands of everyday people. Claudia is one of the world’s leading voices on citizens’ assemblies and founder and CEO of <a href="https://demnext.org/">DemocracyNext</a>, an organization working to build new institutions for the next democratic paradigm.</p> <p> </p> <p>SHOW ACTIONS</p> <p><strong>Internally Reflect - </strong><strong>Imagine life with citizen assemblies</strong></p> <p>Our reflection prompt is inspired by the DemocracyNext launch event, which you can <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ymBGPk0HuM">view on YouTube</a>. Imagine it’s 10 years in the future, and we’ve established new civic rituals. Election Day is out and Sortition Day – the day that people selected by lottery are assigned to various citizen assemblies – is in. What might it feel like to serve in one of these well-facilitated and compensated assemblies with your neighbors? Imagine what it would be like to read media coverage of the deliberations that focus on a community’s attempt at finding common ground, rather than who made the most outlandish statements. What headlines do you see? How do politics feel in this future?</p> <p><strong>Become Informed - </strong><strong>Learn from global citizen assembly experiments</strong></p> <p>To learn more about citizen assemblies, read <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-future-of-democracy/politics-without-politicians">the New Yorker essay</a> by Yale political science professor Hélène Landemore. For a deeper dive, read her book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691181998/open-democracy">Open Democracy</a>. To see a citizen’s assembly in action, check out the <a href="https://www.citizensassembly.ie/en/">Irish Citizens' A