Citizens assembly

Doing
democracy
better

G1000 is the Belgian platform for democratic innovation. We develop and support new forms of citizen participation. We are active in municipalities, cities, regions and on national level. We are also involved in various international networks.

Voices of the People

'Voices of the People: Can citizens save democracy?'

Join us on April 13 for 'Voices of the People' in Flagey. Paul Verhaeghe, Béatrice Delvaux, Eva Kraus, David Van Reybrouck and other guests will ask how citizens can contribute to solving today's big societal challenges. Come and discover inspiring examples of citizen panels in Belgium and abroad. An afternoon not to be missed! Free to attend, but please register beforehand.

Register here

Institution
6
institutionalized citizen councils
Sortition
39
deliberative panels
Participants
1992
randomly selected participants

Cases

G1000

In citizens' assemblies, every person contributes to political decision-making. Everyone with his or her knowledge, skills and experience. If they get the time and the necessary information, citizens are able to create realistic and bold solutions for the common good, without electoral concerns and party pressures.

G1000 calls for this form of democracy to become the standard at all levels of government.

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Ursula Von der Leyen

The Citizens' Panels that were central to the Conference [on the Future of Europe] will now become a regular feature of our democratic life.

State of the Union - September 2022

Ursula Von der Leyen
President of the European Commission
Aristotle

Although each individual separately will be a worse judge than the experts, the whole of them assembled together will be better or at least as good judges.

Politics, Book III

 

Aristotle
Greek philosopher
Kofi Annan

We need to make our democracies more inclusive. This requires bold and innovative reforms, such as selecting parliaments by lot instead of election. This would prevent the formation of self-serving and self-perpetuating political classes.

Kofi Annan (1938-2018)
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Peace Prize 2001
Claudia Chwalisz

Many of the criticisms against deliberative democracy are similar to those that were first levelled against universal suffrage in another age.They stem from fears that ordinary citizens are not competent enough to handle complex political decisions.

Claudia Chwalisz
Founder and CEO of DemocracyNext, worked for OECD

Support us

G1000 is an independent non-profit organization that cannot exist without the support of its contributors. You too can play a role in the implementation of a democratic renewal in Belgium. Support us financially or become a volunteer.

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