Professor Paulina Pospieszna, alongside PhD students Magni Szymaniak-Arnesen and Weronika Kędzia, participated in the prestigious ECPR General Conference 2024 at University College Dublin, held from 12th to 15th August 2024. The entire Democratic Innovations UAM team presented three research papers, all of which were the result of tasks conducted as part of the DelibDemCEE grant funded by the National Science Centre (NCN).
Professor Pospieszna presented research on “Building Trust through Deliberation in Fragile Democracies: A Case Study of Citizens' Assemblies in Georgia”. This paper explored the role of citizens' assemblies in fostering civic engagement and governance in Georgian cities, highlighting the impact of deliberative processes on trust-building in fragile democracies. It drew on interviews with organizers, participants, and local authorities, contributing to a broader understanding of how such assemblies can serve as “schools of democracy” in nations where democratic traditions are still developing.
Magni Szymaniak Arnesen presented a co-authored paper with Adela Gąsiorowska from the University of Warsaw titled “Assessing the Quality of Deliberative Minipublics' Policy Recommendations.” The paper developed a new typology for evaluating the outcomes of deliberative minipublics and explored how different actors—including policy experts, civil servants, and citizens—assess the quality of DMPs' recommendations. The findings provide a valuable tool for comparative studies of DMPs and contribute to ongoing discussions on how these processes can strengthen democratic governance.
Weronika Kędzia presented a collaborative paper titled “Participant Views on Local Citizens’ Assemblies in Poland: A Comparative Study of Decision-Making Modes”, as part of the panel Democratic Innovations in Environmental Governance: Comparative Perspectives. The study focused on climate-related citizens’ assemblies in Krakow and Rzeszow and compared support for these assemblies with other decision-making modes, such as referendums and elections. The research revealed that while participants in the assemblies had positive views on the deliberative process, there was skepticism about its effectiveness in influencing city decisions, particularly among non-participants.