Towards permanent deliberative democracy in Belgium: From the G1000 to the Ostbelgien Model

Democratic innovations are on the rise in most Western democracies. Belgium, like Australia, has always been a land of democratic innovations. Back in the 19th century, both countries were pioneers with compulsory voting, electoral formulae or the - Australian - ballot. In the beginning of the 21st century, both countries are witnessing moves in the direction of a more deliberative democracy. In Belgium, the G1000, a citizen-led experiment, set deliberative democracy on the political agenda. In this wake, all parliaments of the country have initiated deliberative mini-publics. More recently th... Mehr ...

Verfasser: Reuchamps, Min
School of Politics and International Relations Seminar
Dokumenttyp: conferenceObject
Erscheinungsdatum: 2019
Schlagwörter: Deliberative democracy / Belgium
Sprache: Englisch
Permalink: https://search.fid-benelux.de/Record/base-26989651
Datenquelle: BASE; Originalkatalog
Powered By: BASE
Link(s) : https://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/218346

Democratic innovations are on the rise in most Western democracies. Belgium, like Australia, has always been a land of democratic innovations. Back in the 19th century, both countries were pioneers with compulsory voting, electoral formulae or the - Australian - ballot. In the beginning of the 21st century, both countries are witnessing moves in the direction of a more deliberative democracy. In Belgium, the G1000, a citizen-led experiment, set deliberative democracy on the political agenda. In this wake, all parliaments of the country have initiated deliberative mini-publics. More recently the Ostbelgien modell was fostered, that is the Parliament of the German-speaking community has enacted a permanent system of deliberative democracy that will start in September 2019: a randomly selected body of 24 citizens will work next to the existing elected parliament made of 25 MPs. These democratic innovations set the pace for a renewal of democratic dynamics in practice.