The direct participation of citizens in the political process has become a distinctive feature of many European government initiatives. In practice, however, this often leads to stagnation or gridlock, a lack of consensus and the polarisation of key issues. In this breakout session, promoters of citizen engagement will identify and discuss the success factors of such initiatives based on best-practice projects in several European countries.
Speakers
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Eamon GILMORE
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Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, European Union External Action Service; former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Ireland, Dublin |
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Enrica SABATINI
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City Councillor of Pescara, Developer and Strategist, Rousseau Association, Milan |
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Martin WINKLER
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Founder, Mitten in Hernals - Verein für gute Nachbarschaft und sozialen Zusammenhalt, Vienna |
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President and founder, Rousseau Association, Milan
| | Davide Casaleggio is the president of Casaleggio Associati and the president and founder of the Rousseau Association. The Rousseau Platform is the core instrument of the Five Star Movement in Italy for decision making processes with the party base. Drafted laws, nominations for public offices, candidates lists, and other relevant decisions are made online on this platform with extensive citizen participation. The Rousseau platform is perceived as a key success factor of the Movimento 5 Stelle. In the Special Session “Citizens don’t bite” in Alpbach, Davide will provide insights on how this platform works and share strategies in improving participation. |
Special Envoy for the Peace Process in Colombia, European Union External Action Service; former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Republic of Ireland, Dublin
| | Eamon GIlmore is the former Deputy Prime Minister of Ireland. In 2012, he initiated a constitutional convention to revise the constitution of Ireland. Therefore, the government assembled 66 randomly chosen Irish citizens, 33 parliamentarians from across all parties, and an independent chairperson. The constitutional convention is seen as a major experiment in deliberative democracy in Ireland. The convention resulted in a nationwide referendum, in which Ireland became the first country in the world to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote. Eamon was finalist at The Innovation in Politics Awards 2017. |
Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Verein glp Lab, Zurich
| | Corina Gredig is a member of the city council of Zurich and manager of the "Politiklabor - glp lab", which focuses on the modernisation of the political system of Switzerland by increasing participation. The glp-lab introduced so called "idea kitchens" and expert meetings in order to address specific topics and to allow an open discussion among interested people and experts. Resulting proposals are brought into the political process. Corina Gredig was a finalist at The Innovation in Politics Awards 2017. |
International Project Manager, Democracy 21, Prague
| | Ekaterina Petrikevich is International Project Manager at "Democracy 2.1" (D21), a global initiative launched in 2014 to transform the way communities make decisions. The project combines an innovative voting system and a digital platform which allows citizens to build their own secure polls and benefit from state-of-the-art analytics in real time. Developed in partnership with scientists at Cambridge University and the Brookings Institution, the D21 voting system offers various ways of polls and participation. The process is simple and flexible for voters, and helps communities find consensus more quickly. |
City Councillor of Pescara, Developer and Strategist, Rousseau Association, Milan
| | Enrica Sabatini is City Councilor for the 5 Star Movement in the Pescara and a major player in the political spectrum of Italy regarding citizens participation. She works at the Rosseau Association, which is the core instrument of the Five Star Movement in Italy for decision making processes with the party base. Her focus is e-learning and creating online training courses for spokespersons of the 5 Star Movement. She is the executive mind behind the Rosseau platform and responsible for developing new functions. |
Founder, Mitten in Hernals - Verein für gute Nachbarschaft und sozialen Zusammenhalt, Vienna
| | Martin Winkler is managing director of a Vienna based business consultancy. In his private life, he started a non-profit project called "Mitten in Hernals" ("Amidst the neighbourhood of Hernals in Vienna") aiming to empower citizens on the community- and neighbourhood-level for cultural, social and political activism. As a first step he assembled a group of experts in the fields of data management, social science and communication to design a new approach of participation for citizens. His already operating "neighbourhood association" is aimed to become a paragon of state-of-the-art empowerment for grassroots politics. In the Special Session "Citizens don’t bite" he is going to present the findings and experiences made so far. |
