Towards Binding Results

Description

President Macron promised that all proposals of the Citizens’ Climate Convention would be put on parliamentary vote or referendum. In practice, however, parliament debated a climate bill that included fewer than half of the proposals, and ultimately, only 10% were adopted. The majority of CCAs follow this pattern.

In a well-facilitated participatory process, a representative mini-public elaborates reasonable and even far-reaching proposals. However, when it comes to the relevant institutional bodies, these proposals tend to be cherry-picked, watered down or rejected. This diluted outcome does not align with the rich participation established during the assembly and often leads to disenchantment and anger. A considerable challenge lies in securing the long-term implementation of proposals. One solution, proposed by research, is “political embedding”, which considers how political actors might interact given their interests and political context in the assembly design. Another approach is to combine participatory and direct democracy. Instead of increasing the legitimacy of a CCA’s proposals through parliament, they could be put to a legally binding referendum.

Linking CCAs with referendums: in Bavaria, a referendum is an instrument of direct democracy that enables citizens to initiate changes to legislation. If a popular referendum receives enough signatures and the state parliament rejects it, a popular vote follows. This is legally binding. Thus, the referendum on ‘Biodiversity & Beauty of Nature’ obtained laws mandating more biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices and more. The collection of signatures for a proposal put forward by a board alliance of NGOs could be replaced by a citizen assembly. Thereby a powerful instrument of direct democracy would legitimise participatory deliberation.

In Germany the nationwide pilot Climate meets local governemnt sets up CCAs to develop recommendations that are then put to binding council referendums Klima und Demokratie, Klima trifft Kommune

In Austria the discrepancy between empowering experience and lack of political uptake prompted participants to form an association and campaign for the implementation of their recommendations acting as ambassadors of democratisation and climate justice even without government support.

Ensure commitment to follow-up by commissioning authority, governments and administrations from the beginning. Explain which proposals are implemented and how, and why others are rejected or modified, and monitor effects transparently. KNOCA guidance on follow-up

How-To & Examples

President Macron promised that all proposals of the Citizens’ Climate Convention would be put on parliamentary vote or referendum. In practice, however, parliament debated a climate bill that included fewer than half of the proposals, and ultimately, only 10% were adopted. The majority of CCAs follow this pattern.

In a well-facilitated participatory process, a representative mini-public elaborates reasonable and even far-reaching proposals. However, when it comes to the relevant institutional bodies, these proposals tend to be cherry-picked, watered down or rejected. This diluted outcome does not align with the rich participation established during the assembly and often leads to disenchantment and anger. A considerable challenge lies in securing the long-term implementation of proposals. One solution, proposed by research, is “political embedding”, which considers how political actors might interact given their interests and political context in the assembly design. Another approach is to combine participatory and direct democracy. Instead of increasing the legitimacy of a CCA’s proposals through parliament, they could be put to a legally binding referendum.

Linking CCAs with referendums: in Bavaria, a referendum is an instrument of direct democracy that enables citizens to initiate changes to legislation. If a popular referendum receives enough signatures and the state parliament rejects it, a popular vote follows. This is legally binding. Thus, the referendum on ‘Biodiversity & Beauty of Nature’ obtained laws mandating more biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices and more. The collection of signatures for a proposal put forward by a board alliance of NGOs could be replaced by a citizen assembly. Thereby a powerful instrument of direct democracy would legitimise participatory deliberation.

In Germany the nationwide pilot Climate meets local governemnt sets up CCAs to develop recommendations that are then put to binding council referendums Klima und Demokratie, Klima trifft Kommune

In Austria the discrepancy between empowering experience and lack of political uptake prompted participants to form an association and campaign for the implementation of their recommendations acting as ambassadors of democratisation and climate justice even without government support.

Ensure commitment to follow-up by commissioning authority, governments and administrations from the beginning. Explain which proposals are implemented and how, and why others are rejected or modified, and monitor effects transparently. KNOCA guidance on follow-up

Literature & Sources

Mellier, Claire and Rich Wilson (2020): Getting Climate Citizens’ Assemblies Right. Carnegie Europe.https://carnegieendowment.org/research/2020/11/getting-climate-citizens-assemblies-righ

Climate assemblies should not be run where commissioners are not committed to follow-up.

including making ecocide a crime, cutting VAT on train tickets, regulating advertising on polluting products, and banning domestic flights on journeys that can be done by train in under four hours. a 4% green tax on company dividends and the introduction of environmental protection as a primary goal in the preamble of the French constitution.

Jesko: If participation does not lead to a power shift between the haves and the have-nots, then it’s not real participation. Arnstein’s text initially assumes that the widely applauded ritual of participation increasingly obscures existing power relations. She argued that if the relationship between the haves and the have-nots remains untouched, even far-reaching participation projects tend to be manipulative and appeasing rather than truly enabling citizen control. Arnstein’s less than ten-page article quickly became a classic of social work literature.

Watered-down bill falls short of climate targets

Previous version:

President Macron promised that all proposals of the Citizens’ Climate Convention will be voted on in parliament or by a referendum. Instead, the parliament debated a climate bill that included less than half of the proposals, and finally, only 10% have been taken up. The majority of CCAs follow this pattern. In a well-facilitated participatory process, a representative mini-public elaborates reasonable and even far-reaching proposals. Then, political decision-makers pick just what fits them and the powerful lobbies; they water down proposals or reject them completely. This is not participation. Rather, it appears to be an appeasement strategy that pretends to give everyone a voice but ultimately has no significant impact on actual policy.

As if governments often don’t hold their promises and also change, it is hard to secure the implementation of proposals. One way to push for it is by combining participatory with direct democracy. Instead of increasing the legitimacy of a CCA’s proposals through a parliament, they could be voted on in a legally binding referendum. Most governments won’t go for this, as if it takes power from them. They usually need pressure from a population pushing through their demands or even to empower them to shape policy themselves through participatory processes legitimised by referenda. Both can be reached through broad alliances, campaigning and social movements.