The topics discussed during deliberative processes often impact the lives of non-humans and those who are not present, whose voices are consequently ignored. This is increasingly a focus in the field of democratic innovations. At Missions Publiques, we propose a transformative element for citizen assemblies: dialogues with future generations and non-human living systems.
The Knowledge Network on Climate Assemblies (KNOCA) organized a workshop(1) on listening to the “voiceless” and “inaudible” during climate assemblies. Practitioners and academics(2) shared their inspirations and experiences in experimenting with methods aimed at enhancing the ability of deliberative processes to consider future generations and non-human nature. Here is our contribution to the topic(3).
The experience of Missions Publiques through 25 years of local and transnational citizens’ assemblies reveals a harsh reality. Despite the diversity of socio-cultural backgrounds of the participants, the same questions and the same framing produce similar responses and proposals on climate. So, what happens if we change the framing? Here we propose a transformative element for citizen assemblies: dialogues with future generations and non-human living systems. We have experimented with various ways to integrate these processes into democratic deliberation, and we continue to test and improve them.
These efforts do not claim to speak on behalf or represent these entities. Our goal is to expand the assembly members’ scope of reflection: by decentring the here and now, participants introduce new arguments and priorities. This helps members clarify dizzying questions: what do we truly value? What and why are we ready to change, give up, create, for our collective future?
We were also inspired by the Haudenosaunee wisdom of Seventh Generation Insight. We consider the impact of our decisions on the life of the seventh generation to come, which will be 30 years from now in 210 years. We invite assembly members to enter a non-fictional dialogue with fictional humans of this future generation. We encourage participants to formulate questions that deeply resonate with them related to the assembly’s topic. We then guide them toward a virtual conversation with a couple of future humans. After this conversation, they return to the present and bring their key messages into the deliberation. This is a guided visualization, lasting at least an hour, ideally more.
Nature is not just a landscape or a resource. Flora and fauna are not mere objects or providers of ecosystem services. Recognizing the individual character of nature has changed court decisions and constitutions. Why shouldn’t it inspire changes in our democracies and influence public policies? Our experience has shown that by finding new and emotional connections with the living system in a citizen assembly, new arguments and visions are generated.
One approach we tested involves inviting participants to visually connect with a natural place they appreciate and to start a conversation. Taking 30 minutes for such a moment, members return with new ideas and a different view of justice criteria, including justice for the living system.
We have also experimented with role-playing: character cards representing non-human entities are used to diversify perspectives. We used this in designing an assembly in France on water management, and it provided a renewed vision of conflicts in water management programs.
Are citizens ready? Are policymakers open enough to introduce these new perspectives into their leadership? Experimentation is the best way to develop the next generation of Citizens’ Assemblies!
Yves Mathieu et Judith Ferrando, Missions Publiques
In its original version on Déliberative Democracu Digest
