With climate action stalled by political gridlock, could citizens' assemblies be the bold democratic solution we need to break through barriers and finally make progress? When it comes to climate change, most of us want to see action but feel that we don’t have power and politicians aren’t listening. Deliberative democracy and citizen empowerment have been proposed as solutions to that widespread sense of disempowerment. In this episode, Kristen chats with Dimitry Courant, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation, who explains what citizens assemblies are and how they have been used around the world to address climate change. He also shares insights about the best ways to design citizens assemblies so they work well and drive real change.

We recommend Dimitri’s writing on mini-publics and citizen’s assemblies!

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