Towards a regenerative democracy
Outline
Citizens today are better educated, live longer, travel further afield and have higher expectations of voice, choice and agency in every sphere of their lives than any previous generation. Meanwhile, the context in which policy challenges must be addressed has also changed to become more global, interdependent, complex and fast-paced. The traditional institutions of representative democracy have not evolved fast enough to keep pace with either and are struggling to respond. New approaches to deepening and extending the democratic project are urgently needed.
This IPSP Working Group views democracy as a dynamic and ever-evolving system of collective governance and adopts a broad and comprehensive approach to exploring its political, representative, deliberative, economic and social dimensions.
What are the core features of a regenerative democracy?
Democracy is best understood as a project in perpetual motion, rather than as a set of institutions fixed once and for all. It cannot be sustained without movement toward expanding (e.g. into new social arenas, such as the firm) and deepening (e.g. convening Citizens’ Assemblies next to established legislatures).
Building upon existing research and analysis of the drivers underpinning the current ‘crisis of democracy’, this WG will seek to go beyond offering a “diagnostic” to identify potential ways forward in deepening and extending the democratic project through a citizen-centered conception of democracy.
To do so, it will focus on three axes in parallel:
Defining the core features of “regenerative democracy”
This work will seek to describe the key elements for a democracy that is citizen-centred, focuses on people’s experience of ‘everyday democracy’ in daily life and develops fit-for-purpose institutional designs for a democratic and sustainable future.
Exploring emerging examples of regenerative democracy in everyday life
This work will seek to collect concrete cases of emerging practice, identify prototypes and distill insights for action.
Developing key areas for action:
This area of inquiry will focus on defining the concrete steps needed to foster regenerative democracies in the future (including institutional and legal frameworks, investing in people’s civic skills, understanding of global citizenship as well as shared values). It will identify the actions to be taken by all of the key stakeholders in a democracy including governments, legislatures, firms, civil society and individual citizens.
Coordinators
Joanne Caddy (OECD)
Isabelle Ferreras (Oxford/Louvain)
Claire Mellier (ISWE)