There is a widespread crisis of democracy, which has been the matter of intense political and academic debate for over 20 years.
One response to this crisis of democracy and disinterest of citizens to participate in political and social life has been the creation of Citizens Assemblies (CAs), participatory institutions which seeks to bring together an inclusive group of ordinary people to deliberate formally on public issues and to exert an influence on public decision-making.
The use of CAs was promoted at all levels of decision making (local, national and supranational) and by the various actors: academic institutions, civil society, local and national governments but also the European Union, international organizations and social movements.
In my talk I will briefly delineate the major characteristic of this innovative institutions and discuss the benefits they can bring to democratic participation but also their major limits.
Dr Irena Fiket is a Research Fellow at University of Belgrade, Serbia, where she works on citizen participation, democratic innovation, deliberative democracy, European identity, European public sphere, European Higher Education and the Western Balkans.
What are SHEtalks
SHEtalks are a serial of informal research seminars held at Center for Sustainable Healthcare Education, University of Oslo. SHEtalks are research lunch lectures. The spring 2023 program was put together by researcher Gabriela Saldanha. Seminars take place at Thursdays at noon (GTM+1) unless otherwise specified. They may be delivered and attended in person or via zoom. If you would like to take part, please send an email to Trine Kleven trine.kleven@medisin.uio.no