Towards Citizen Legislators: An international online conference, May 19, 20 and 21, 2021

You want to know if citizens can write the law ?

You might think that through their elected representatives, citizens are already legislators, even if indirectly. Yet, how many citizens today see themselves that way? Don't our contemporaries have the impression that public decisions are made without them having much say in them? Haven't some felt, for decades, that the law is made without them? Beyond the law itself, those who propose and vote on it, those who impose it, are also perceived as separate individuals, who don't know "our lives," who don't consider us, or even who don't care about us. This is how the divide between ordinary citizens and elected officials, who should be "their representatives," manifests itself. The increase in abstention is the most direct and long-standing consequence of this rift; the decline and disintegration of political parties are also consequences, as is the populist temptation.

Meanwhile, the house is "burning down," and citizens are becoming increasingly aware of it. Climate change has taken root in people's minds, even the least attentive, and has begun to stir up considerable anxiety. What will happen? What will become of us? How can we cope? Isn't it already too late? If young people are mobilizing for the climate, it's because they will have to bear the brunt of the most serious consequences of climate change. But they are not alone: ​​older generations are worried about the legacy they will leave behind, either because they have recklessly burned fossil fuels for so long (the baby boomers), or because they are doing little or nothing at the very moment they should be doing so—that is, now (the children of the baby boomers).

The Citizens' Convention for Climate and other assemblies of randomly selected citizens being implemented in several countries are all experiments aimed at finding a way to restore meaning to political debate, revitalize the collective search for solutions to collective problems, and transform the way laws are made and decisions are taken that guide and organize public action. The French Conference raised many hopes and generated considerable frustration due to the numerous filters that came between the Convention and the decisions ultimately made by the government and parliament. However, it demonstrated that "ordinary" citizens are capable of proposing a coherent, realistic, and actionable political program. That's no small feat!

The random selection of its members is one explanation for this good news, along with their impressive involvement and fierce determination to "succeed," proving that citizens are not the inconsistent or minor beings they seem to perceive in the eyes of political leaders. Other factors contributed to this success: the organization of the work, the innovative way in which the CCC members collaborated with experts, the facilitation of the proceedings, and so on.

citizens' assemblies like the French Convention allow citizens to become legislators or quasi-legislators? Under what conditions would this be possible in the long term? What institutional form should this type of assembly take? What can the various international experiences (in Ireland, Scotland, England, Denmark, Poland, Taiwan, etc.) contribute to this discussion? Is a model emerging?

A researcher who observed the Citizens' Convention for Climate and a team of consultation specialists who participated in the design and facilitation of the Convention have launched this discussion at an international conference to be held online on May 19, 20, and 21, 2021. Hélène Landemore of Yale University and Res publica invite you to participate in this conference. The discussions will be held in French and English with simultaneous translation. They will bring together around ten members of the Citizens' Convention for Climate, researchers, promoters from other European citizens' assemblies, and a large number of participants from North and South America, Asia, and Africa.

So, if you too want to know if citizens can write laws, sign up here.