Reflections on the 2024 Democracy R&D Conference 

The annual Democracy R&D conference was hosted in Vancouver from September 19-20 by MassLBP, in partnership with NewDemocracy, and collaborators such as Simon Fraser University’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue.  

The Democracy R&D is a network of over 100 organizations and individuals from around the world, all of which are dedicated to deliberative democracy and democratic innovation. A notable focus of the community is on sortition-based deliberative minipublics. 

This year’s conference was hosted on the 20th anniversary of the British Columbia Citizen’s Assembly (BCCA) on Electoral Reform, which was the first ever legislative assembly in Canada to be selected in a way where representation of siting members was based on gender parity. The auspicious connection to the BCCA set the foundation for a conversation on the significant progress the community has made, with nearly 1,000 successful citizens’ assemblies and deliberative minipublics globally. 

Check out the slide deck of international practitioner updates of recent deliberative minipublic processes.  

Plenary sessions and breakout discussions covered the state of the field, including: 

• Situating deliberative democracy in a longer history of collaborative, consensus-based governance in Indigenous communities. The conference keynote speaker, Niigaan Sinclair, outlined a significant tradition of democratic decision-making and conflict resolution among First Nations confederacies, and rooting people in the idea of ‘kanata’, or village.  

• Moving the needle of deliberative democracy and specifically citizens’ assemblies in North America. Executive Director of Fide North America, Marjan Ehsassi, highlighted that the field needs a strong proof of concept, pushing for a rooted democratic culture that knows and believes in citizens’ assemblies. She emphasized the importance of developing cohesive internal strategies to unify the field and establishing a sustainable external donor strategy to support this work. 

• Rooting citizens’ assemblies in communities. Jillian Youngblood, Executive Director of Civic Genius—a program of the National Civic League—discussed the importance of fostering genuine partnerships within communities rather than trying to sell initiatives to them. She emphasized the need for diverse grassroots efforts, including both online and offline outreach, door-to-door engagement, and training community facilitators to support the process. 

• Thinking about democracy and inequality. Simon Pek and Matthew Mendelsohn discussed the tensions between capitalism and democracy, emphasizing the need for democratic innovations to rethink the types of societal welfare required. They highlighted the role that new economic institutions, the private sector, and non-state actors can play in elevating deliberative processes for resource allocation.  

• Going from good to great processes. Iain Walker from NewDemocracy hosted a session that asked what success looks like for our field. The crowd listed what a bad process might entail, including biased information for the community, external attacks of the process, having facilitators that aren’t neutral, the convening authority preferring a specific outcome, and so on. In turn, the group then discussed how to create principles and practices to overcome these challenges and create basic conditions for success.  

• Different ways to address the challenges that tech and AI pose to democracy and deliberation. There was a conversation about how to regulate and govern tech, both within companies and through legislation. Alternative strategies were to pursue open source forms of civic technology like Pol.is and to use it for scaling engagement processes.  

The 2024 Democracy R&D Conference in Vancouver was a powerful reflection on the progress and potential of deliberative democracy. Bringing together a diverse community of global practitioners, the event underscored the need for democratic innovation to address contemporary challenges, from economic inequality to the rise of AI. The conversations highlighted both the successes and the work still required, emphasizing the importance of genuine community partnerships, cohesive strategies, and innovative approaches to resource allocation and governance. As democratic processes continue to evolve, this conference reaffirmed the critical role that deliberative democracy and inclusive practices must play in shaping a more equitable future.