How can we give citizens a meaningful voice in big public decisions?
On 14 June 2017, CLES co-hosted the Manchester launch event for Claudia Chwalisz’s book,The People’s Verdict: Adding Informed Citizen Voices to Public Decision-making, together with the Manchester Urban Institute, The Crick Centre, The University of Sheffield and Policy Network. Below is a key summary of her conversation with Neil McInroy, Chief Executive of CLES.
Introduction: A few thoughts on the problem
NM: The world has many wicked and complex issues. Global finance, climate change. Our problems are system based; we live in a network, not in a hierarchy. In this context, there is also a new questioning of democracy and elected politicians. Trust in representative democracy is and has weakened.
In the UK, our 19th century or even older arcane and archaic modes of governance, institutions and practice are out of kilter with a networked 21st century. It’s analogue in a digital work. Centralised in a distributed world. I sense a new hankering for a new type of politics. People are not anti-politics, they are maybe anti the type of politics we have.