The Uses and Abuses of Citizens’ Assemblies
Of all the Conservative Party candidates competing in the parade of lying
nincompoops to be the UK's next Prime Minister Rory Stewart is the exception in
that he actually tries to answer questions and is the most honest about the
obstacles ahead.
However the central part of pitch to solve Brexit impasse is to use the
evolving method of Citizens’ Assemblies modeled on Irish abortion referendum is
deeply flawed for the following reasons:
1. unlike the Irish Ref Stewart is ruling out in advance the two most likely
outcomes "no deal"or a "confirmatory referendum". Its completely pointless to
convene a Citizens' Assembly with the participants aware that the two probable
outcomes have already been ruled out.
2. The Irish Citizens' Assemblies happened as part of the Referendum process
itself so the participants had a sense of genuine agency and saw that they were
contributing to the outcome which of course made the process credible.
3. Although the Irish example lead to a positive outcome there are a quite a
few less positive examples of Citzens Assemblies. This is no reason to try but
expectations should be moderated.
4. The Irish process had plenty of time to unfold. So unless Stewart was to
commit to extending the deadline beyond October and committing to considering
all outcomes not just ones he already favours then it is not so much a solution
to Brexit block as a dodgy gimmick.
It is also important to recognise that the Labour MP Stella Creasy has been
proposing a Citizen's Assembly to address Brexit for nearly 2 years. But the
difference is that she would fold them into a new Referendum on the deal, with
nothing ruled out and on the basis of enough time to enact the process
properly.
This is extremely important as Citzens' Assemblies are an important innovation
that hold out some hope of reforming the democratic process that is badly in
need of repair.
This really is a multi-dimensional opportunity because as well as creating a
framework for experts to advise citizens rather than dictate to these bodies
could be integrated into or constitutions as part of the process of building a
'knowledge democracy’. This would be an important challenge to the populist
phenomenon of politics as a “knowledge free zone”. It would represent a
challenge to parties like Farage's Brexit Party who refuse to have a manifesto
for us to examine or individuals like Boris Johnson and Trump who refuse to
submit themselves to meaningful journalistic scrutiny.
That’s why its important that Stewart does not contribute to discrediting the
potential of Citizens Assemblies by misapplying them as part of a poorly
thought through piece of political expediency.
David Garcia - Brexit Correspondent for Radio Patapou-
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