Lessons to be learned from Citizens' Conventions in France – DémoCit

In the face of increasingly serious political crises, democratic innovations are developing all over the world. In particular, deliberative processes involving diverse panels of randomly selected citizens have been widely experimented with for several decades. They have been the subject of numerous scientific studies and promoted by civil society actors as a means of strengthening democracy. More recently, in the wake of Ireland's famous Citizens' Assemblies, French Citizens' Conventions have taken a further step forward through their close connection with the drafting of legislation. But these mechanisms are not codified, so their future and effectiveness depend on many factors, which we intend to study.

What lessons can be drawn from the experience of Citizens' Conventions in France?

This unprecedented project brings together three types of actors who are deeply involved in these reflections: researchers specializing in democratic innovations, an association campaigning for the institutionalization of Citizens' Conventions, and an association bringing together the randomly selected members of the one on the end of life, which has not yet been the subject of in-depth study. The ambitions and questions shared by this collective are numerous. This “emerging” project is designed to prioritize them, define the methods for data collection and analysis, and identify the necessary disciplines as well as the academic and civil society actors capable of conducting the participatory research that will enable this work to continue.