What we did Democratic Society was commissioned by the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (ALLIANCE) to identify and share best practices and evidence on including people with lived experience in health and social care policy. …

This piece is a summary of two reflection papers written by Daniela Amann, Martina Francesca and Alexander Zur-Clark. It takes you through the Demsoc staff representation selection process design, and what we have learned from it. …

In February Demsoc examined participatory ecosystems as part of our quarterly ‘DemsocNext10’ series on the future of democracy. Participatory ecosystems are just like organic models, made up of a variety of organisms and species that interact with each other. We set out to learn about the key components of these ecosystems based on field examples. We are inspired by the case study of Every One Every Day in the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham, a leading example of a participatory ecosystem that is transforming the neighbourhood in socially responsible ways. Every One Every Day is a network of locals participating in practical projects to…

As official evaluator of the Conference on the Future of Europe, Demsoc asked Ward Den Dooven, Project Officer at Demsoc and Associate Fellow at the Egmont Institute to share his views on the process. On Europe Day, May 9th, the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe…

By Mat Basford & Anna Colom When Kirklees Council shared the learning from their ‘Democracy Commission’ back in 2017, a key message from local citizens was that democracy isn’t just about formal institutions. Instead, it’s about people’s ability to change things where they live. So the council decided to make…

By Anthony Zacharzewski, Democratic Society’s Founder & President Elon Musk has talked a lot about free speech during his successful battle to take over Twitter. Unfortunately, his vision of free speech is simplistic — a teenage love poem set against the messy realities of marriage — and is likely to…

Written by Dr Paola Pierri, Director of Research and Design at Demsoc. In 2022 Democratic Society carried out a rapid literature review and an international case study analysis to learn from best practices of community participation and engagement mechanisms for governments’ strategy delivery. …

A guest article by John Boswell, Associate Professor in Politics at the University of Southampton — and recently selected for a Citizens’ Assembly Having dedicated much of the last decade to writing and teaching about deliberative democracy and democratic innovation, I was stunned — and excited! — to be randomly…

From Anna Colom (Democratic Society), and Juliet Swann, Suzannah Lansdell (Involve). This is a reposting of Involve’s article So, you ran a citizen’s assembly… top tips from local authorities Putting deliberative process recommendations into practice and demonstrating impact — top tips from local authorities…www.involve.org.uk There has been a plethora of citizens’ assemblies, juries and other deliberative processes in the last couple of years — from borough, city, county, district and town Councils. Whilst practice in terms…