Understanding Citizens’ Assemblies

What do the public think about climate change? How do they think governments should act? These are the people who will often be most affected by policy and action, so how do we find out their views? This answer may lie in citizens’ assemblies. Dr Andy Yuille, is an interdisciplinary qualitative social scientist (!) from the University of Manchester. He takes us through citizens’ assemblies and their role in creating understandings about people's thoughts about the environment and government policy, and how they show that members of the public can take informed, positions on difficult policy decisions. We encounter the concept of deliberative mini-publics, and how they can reflect the broader population to ensure views of assemblies reflect those of the public at large; discuss where and at what level climate assemblies operate; and understand how they are formed and operate, and the disqualifying factors for taking part. Andy tells us about his interest in how major decisions that affect the environment are made and his work on the Our Energy Futures panel; we look at the polarisation of society and how this affects matters; and how assemblies might be a way to build trust in government. What actions do governments take on assembly recommendations? Do assembly members ever find out why their suggestions are (or are not) taken up? And can these assemblies be considered a successful initiative? Plus, what do people think about changes to energy usage and demand? How do they think businesses should adapt? Did Jan behave in school assemblies? What are human assembly plants? And what is a sociologist?  The UK Parliament has an introduction to citizens’ assemblies: https://www.parliament.uk/get-involved/committees/climate-assembly-uk/about-citizens-assemblies/ Here are some examples of past citizens’ assemblies: https://tinyurl.com/pastcitizensassemblies More details about the assembly Andy talked about can be found here: https://www.edrc.ac.uk/research/projects/public-support-and-engagement-for-low-energy-futures/ Episode Transcript