Institutionalising deliberative democracy: principles and approaches

The fifth and final session of the BRIDGE Deliberative Democracy Lab has recently concluded. One of the speakers was Lex Paulson, political organiser and professor at the School of Collective Intelligence at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco.

Lex spoke about how durable social movements emerge and how approaches to governance shift, at both local and national level. Since ancient times, he argued, democracy has only been possible when people have demanded power after going through a period of crisis and sacrifice. Ukrainians have proven they are capable to take part in the adventure of democracy — and they have earned the right to do it.

"This was an incredibly inspiring group of people, each with distinct experiences in democracy and collective intelligence. I was struck at the incredible range of work being done to make community voices heard, and the energetic resolve to build new forms of democracy in Ukraine," Lex Paulson said.

Across five sessions, participants of the Lab developed recommendations that will cover the full path of a deliberative process and serve as a practical reference point for communities, public authorities and research teams. We will share them shortly.