Five ways governments around the world are reimagining democracy

In season three, episode one of our Reimagining Government podcast, co-hosts Adrian Brown and Beatriz Cano Buchholz discuss this historic year of elections, and what they mean for democracy around the world. They highlight:

• How elections shape the political landscape

• What the 2024 elections mean for democracy & societies around the globe

• How elections give citizens the opportunity to have their say

• Different approaches to elections - are there better ways for citizens to have their say?

• The necessity of elections in a modern model of governance

• And more

The episode features Omezzine Khelifa (Activist and former politician in the first free and fair elections in Tunisia) and Jon Alexander (Co-Founder at New Citizen Project and author of Citizens: Why the Key to Fixing Everything is All of Us), who talk about their experiences with democracy.

In this article, we’ll explore five interesting practical examples of how democracy is being done differently around the globe. Listen to the full episode below or click here.

Five ways democracy is being done differently around the world

Here are five ways democracy is being done differently, as highlighted in season three, episode one of Reimagining Government.

Sweden’s Almedalen Week

One of the first examples of more progressive forms of democracy the episode looks at is Almedalen Week, in Sweden. Adrian explained:

“In Sweden, there's a tradition where all the political parties gather together during the first week of July on an island called Gotland, which is in the Baltic Sea off the coast of Sweden, and the main town there is called Visby.

“It's called Almedalen Week, and it's kind of like a political festival. It sounds like quite an unlikely setup, but parties are there, business is there, and civil society is there. It's open to the public and broadcast on the national television station, as well.

“Almedalen Week is actually a space not for point scoring or setting out a political stall against your opponents, but a space where Swedish society comes together for a week and says ‘What's important?’, ‘What are our differences?’, ‘What are our commonalities?’, “What are our challenges?’, and ‘What are our opportunities as a society?’. And they essentially just talk about it - not in an adversarial, point scoring way - but in a collaborative, productive, and more participatory way. And that then sets the scene for a higher-quality political dialogue for the other 51 weeks of the year.”

Finland’s online check-ins

The episode also touched on Finland’s use of online surveys. Jon explained:

“There was a really fascinating project in Finland (September or October last year), called ‘What do we think, Finland?’, using the online deliberative platform, Pol.is, as a way of just genuinely asking ‘How are we doing?’.

“The way Pol.is works is what's called a Wiki survey. And what that means is anyone can add statements to the survey, so there’ll be things like: ‘I think we're doing pretty well, actually’, and then you can click whether or not you resonate with that.

“And because the only thing people can do is click whether they resonate or not, you start to then see groupings emerge. So, Finland has this conversation that they're now intending to do every year. A sort of annual check-in for a month like, ‘How are we doing?’ and ‘What's arising?’”

He adds:

“Where people are active participants, and where there's an incentive to find ways to bridge across differences rather than to simply ham up divisions, you create a space that actually tries to find consensus.”

Taiwan’s use of online citizen initiatives

Jon went on to speak about Taiwan’s use of Pol.is, too, and how they use online platforms to develop policies and have specific conversations. He said:

“In Taiwan, they use Pol.is for specific conversations in order to develop policy in contested areas. So, there's a platform where if you get 5,000 signatures, it automatically triggers one of these conversations. So there’s what are called ‘citizen initiatives’ - a way for difficult issues to be raised by a decent number of the population that then drives things to be looked at. 

“Those kinds of dynamics and citizen initiatives are starting to be adopted in more places around the world. I think there are a couple of cities in Poland, where if you get to a thousand signatures on something, it triggers a different mechanic, which is citizen assembly. So a randomly selected representative of the population will come together to deliberate on the issue at hand.”

Ireland’s citizen assemblies

The episode also briefly touched on Ireland’s use of citizen assemblies. Jon continued:

“That then bridges me onto Ireland, where actually citizen assemblies are now a structured part of the constitutional process. So, when and if there’s a need to revise the constitution of the country, or to look at something that might change the rules, there’s a process in place where there would be a citizen's assembly followed by a referendum.”

Malawi’s system of citizens’ juries

The final example of democracy being done differently is Malawi’s use of citizens’ juries. Jon explained:

“In Malawi, there’s a system of citizens’ juries. So, for a long time in Malawi there was a system where MPs had a little pot of money that could be spent in their constituency. There's now a system of citizens’ juries emerging, where a randomly-selected group of the citizens of that constituent have a kind of oversight role in that.”

To conclude the episode, Beatriz added:

“This has been a very rich conversation. We've heard it is possible to see democracy beyond elections. It is possible, but also very much needed. There are new ways of engaging citizens in governments that are being used across the globe - participatory budgets, citizen assemblies, but also co-creation methods.”

The full conversation about democracy in elections is available now on all major podcast listening platforms. To listen, use the player below or click here.