Democratic Society

Embedding citizens in decision-making means different things to different people. For us, it's a commitment to engaging citizens continually, and not just through a citizens assembly every five years. How much effort and resources are wasted when citizens don't adopt or even reject new policies?

Democratic Society, through the KT4Democracy project, works for AI integration in democracy ensuring transparency, accountability, and inclusivity. The Digital Democracy Lab empowers professionals with tools, ensuring AI is used ethically within democratic systems.

What does embedding of citizens in the institutional decision-making-processes entail, and why is it important? Embedding means different things to different people. For me Saha Balaganesh says, it is a commitment to engaging citizens continually, and not just through a Citizens Assembly every five years. We need to listen more to what citizens say and the democratic process needs to be more open in that way. Anant Jani adds that the biggest barrier to citizen-centered change is the conditioned mental model of citizens. Disempowerment and decoupling have led to citizens accepting a expropriation of their capacity to enact change. To counter it, we need to get together, we need to talk to each other, to communicate with our neighbors and our peers. We need to come together to experience that we can actually enact change. We need to test, test, test, and test. We need to iterate. The first solution will never be the perfect solution. Test test test test test …. And iterate. The citizens are taking the power, they are not waiting for politicians to listen! We have power to shortcut and help citizens, policymakers and administrations to shortcut to find solutions together Claude A. Garcia adds and points out how this is happening in Colombia. Theresa Scavenius rounds of with the key take away: We are so powerful in the European Union; we have the means we have the resources. Maybe we should be more honest about the power structures and technocracy and not leave this tearing down of the bureaucracy to the right wings. Thank you to all the panelists for sharing your insights and viewpoints and thank you Niels-Kristian T. for doing a great job as moderator. And on the behalf of the I-CHANGE project Thank you MAIA Resilience EU team for creating this event with us 🙌 #democracy #citizenparticipation

"To create good policy, you have to keep in mind that people are human." Wise words from Claude Garcia at our Policy Roundtable on behavioural change.  Citizen engagement is at the heart of sustainable transitions. Our 2nd behavioural change policy panel on Co-Creating Citizen-Centered Pathways explored practical methodologies, innovative tools, and inspiring case studies to amplify citizen participation in policy design.  Through collaborative dialogue, we discussed on: How to integrate citizen input into policymaking ✅ Cutting-edge tools and frameworks to boost engagement ✅ Success stories and actionable insights from diverse contexts ✅ A huge thanks to our outstanding panel of experts: 🔹Claude Garcia – Professor of International Forest Governance, Berner Fachhochschule BFH 🔹Saha Balaganesh – Network Engagement Lead (NETS4DEM, SCALEDEM), DemSoc 🔹Anant Jani – Researcher at the University of Oxford, Member of NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health 🔹Theresa Scavenius – PhD, Member of Danish Parliament This was a unique opportunity to engage, share ideas, and help shape the future of participatory governance. A huge thanks to all our expert speakers. Watch this space for the report...  Regions4  Athena Research Center SPI - Sociedade Portuguesa de Inovação  Kamelia Georgieva  Claude A. Garcia  @theresascavenius Saha Balaganesh  Anant Jani  Ami Crowther  I-CHANGE  #ClimateChange #ClimatePolicy #PolicyScience #MAIAProject #ClimateAdaptation #ClimateMitigation

💓 Mapping emotions is one of the most crucial topics to understand current politics and foster democratic participation. If you’re interested in the topic, please reach out! You can connect with our colleague Jörn directly at jka10@demsoc.eu or with our team at hello@demsoc.org.

Thursday is here and after arriving to Athens, I look forward connecting on the issue of democracy- in-loop AI development for deliberation and public sector tech. Proudly presenting our two years of work in the KT4Democracy project and at Democratic Society

Very fortunate for a sunny #Strasbourg to discuss the topic of citizen participation and engagement with an incredible mix of organisations, municipalities, companies, & active citizens at #REP2025 Highlight sessions for me: The Good Lobby on citizen advocacy routes for driving change 📢 Faktor D on building collective strategies & collaboration effectively 🤝  & Berlin neighbours Democratic Society, nexus - Institut für Kooperationsmanagement u. interdisziplinäre Forschung and Bürger Begehren Klimaschutz e.V. on social emotional learning (SEL) techniques for better engagement  🧠 Special thanks to Gabriel Maitre & Décider ensemble for the invitation to hold a workshop on #disinformation. (Excited to share more on that soon) #CitizenEngagement #Democracy Alliance4Europe

📢 Opening Registrations for Democracy R&D 2025! There isn’t a more critical time to bring together democratic innovators around the world. We are preparing an impact-focused programme that asks difficult questions and reflects the diversity of the field. Two full days of workshops and deep dives to collaboratively respond to our democratic predicament. What are the pathways for public deliberation to effectively rise to this moment? ✍️Learn more and register at https://lnkd.in/evMTWreG

👉 DemSoc is looking forward to the Rencontres Européennes de la Participation. 𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀𝗵𝗼𝗽 𝗼𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹-𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗰𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 with the wonderful collaboration of BürgerBegehren Klimaschutz e.V. and nexus - Institut für Kooperationsmanagement u. interdisziplinäre Forschung. Thanks to our partners Décider ensemble and French-German Citizens' Fund!

💥 When we planned the "Philanthropy Talks" webinar series with Climate KIC, little did we know that the world around us would crumble so rapidly. 🌍 Our ambition was to bring together #city leaders that are pioneering Europe's transition towards climate-neutrality with #philanthropy representatives interested in making sure that the #transition goes beyond tunnel visions on decarbonization, embracing solutions that include social and cultural dimensions, adopting vision-based funding models that support ecosystems of actors rather than isolated projects. 🤝 Here comes the third and last step of the conversation, reframed around the #competitiveness paradigm: with increasing calls for reorientation of public funds towards security and militarisation, we are at a crossroads. 👉 On 20 March, Kirsten Dunlop (Climate KIC), Thomas Osdoba (NetZeroCitiesEU), Anthony Zacharzewski (Democratic Society), representatives from Ville de Paris and the philanthropy sector will discuss what the urban transition to climate-neutrality means in concrete terms and how support to bottom-up transformation which lies at the intersection of #climate, #economy and #democracy. 📢 You don't have to be a member of Philea - Philanthropy Europe Association to join the conversation: https://lnkd.in/dHsNRtC6