On 18 September 2025, Columbia University’s Columbia World Projects, in collaboration with New America’s Political Reform program and FIDE – North America, hosted an online webinar titled “Democracy Beyond Elections: Assemblies and Institutional Reform.” Moderated by Tom Asher of Columbia World Projects and Marjan Ehsassi, Executive Director of FIDE – North America, the session brought together leading democracy scholars Jane Mansbridge (Adams Professor of Political Leadership and Democratic Values Emerita, Harvard Kennedy School) and Matt Lininger (Director, Center for Democracy Innovation, National Civic League). The conversation explored the history, current resurgence, and future potential of citizen assemblies as mechanisms to deepen democratic participation beyond the ballot box.

Opening Framing: From Polarization to Deliberation

Tom Asher opened by situating citizen assemblies within a broader series examining “democracy beyond elections.” He explained that assemblies—randomly selected, demographically representative groups—are being deployed to tackle thorny public issues like land use, housing, climate policy, and reproductive rights both in the United States and internationally. By rebuilding trust in government and in the collective wisdom of ordinary citizens, these assemblies complement our competitive electoral system.

Historical Foundations and Early Experiments

Turning first to the past, Jane Mansbridge recounted America’s early forays into sortition—most notably New England town meetings—and the emergence of deliberative polling pioneered by Jim Fishkin. In deliberative polls, participants’ views are measured before and after intensive weekend deliberations, revealing significant, often centrist, opinion shifts driven both by expert briefings and by the bonds formed through working together on questions for those experts. Mansbridge highlighted the Texas Utilities Commission’s use of deliberative polling to build bipartisan support for wind energy, a decision that helped make Texas the nation’s wind-power leader.

Matt Lininger added that these early waves—deliberative polling and the subsequent citizen juries—coexisted with broader civic-innovation efforts, from participatory budgeting to online ideation platforms. He emphasized that democratic impact often depends on mobilizing large numbers of citizens to support assembly recommendations, thereby translating deliberation into policy change.

Why Now? Drivers of a Resurgence

Mansbridge pointed to acute partisan polarization as the primary catalyst for renewed interest in assemblies: when citizens work in small, mixed-party groups on shared tasks—crafting expert questions or weighing budget options—they forge personal connections that can overcome divisive rhetoric. She noted that well-designed assemblies require sufficient scale (ideally 125 participants), fair compensation, and logistical support—investments that, while costly, yield decisions on issues where elected bodies are either gridlocked or incline toward extremes.

Lininger agreed, observing that decades of legislative stalemate and eroding trust in institutions have created both the need and the opening for deliberative innovations. He argued that assemblies can inject efficiency into policymaking—demonstrating that “engaging people” need not be messy or slow—and that they can become permanent fixtures in civic infrastructure at local and state levels, countering recent moves by some state governments to restrict community authority.

Towards a Broader Reform Ecosystem

Looking ahead, Mansbridge and Lininger contemplated how assemblies might anchor a more participatory democratic ecosystem:

• State-Level Assemblies: Lininger described pilots in Colorado, Oregon, and other states, suggesting that statewide assemblies linked to local and digital participation platforms could amplify both legitimacy and policy impact.
• Bipartisan Public Support: Mansbridge urged a concerted effort to build public demand—across political foundations and purple states—by highlighting assemblies’ ability to reduce polarization. She cited the success of ranked-choice voting reforms as a precedent for packaging multiple democratic innovations into a coherent coalition.
• Institutional Trust and Measurement: Both panelists stressed the need for rigorous evaluation—pairing assemblies with before-and-after polling, and expanding civic-health metrics beyond voter turnout to gauge voice, connectedness, and trust.

Closing Reflections

In his summary remarks, Mark Schmidt (New America) celebrated the session’s expansive view of democratic innovation—from 1990s deliberative polls to today’s citizen assemblies—and applauded Mansbridge’s enduring contributions since Beyond Adversary Democracy (1980s). He underscored a unifying insight: placing trust in ordinary people consistently yields thoughtful, actionable solutions to complex challenges.

This webinar is the latest installment in a series examining citizen assemblies’ role in institutional reform. Future sessions will continue to unpack both the practical mechanics and the normative foundations of this promising model for deepening democracy.

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