Books

La democracia es posible. Sorteo cívico y deliberación para rescatar el poder de la ciudadanía, 2020, Ed. Consonni.

Ernesto Ganuza and Arantxa Mendiharat are the authors of one of the reference publications in Spanish for understanding the deliberative concept and context.

Against Elections, 2017, Seven Stories Press

David Van Reybrouck combines a historical review with current examples to understand the origin of elections and how they have become popularity contests rather than a reasoned contrast of proposals [image and link: Spanish version of the book].

Guides and academic articles

Guides and resources of the Delib Network, Iberian Network of organizations and individuals that encourage and promote deliberative democracy.

The Delib Network, coordinated by Deliberativa, brings together the main guides in Spanish and English, and other materials (in particular audiovisual documentaries of process) on deliberative mini-publics and how to activate them.

How to activate national initiatives to move democracy beyond elections, UN and newDemocracy Foundation, 2019.

A guide published with the support of the UN Democracy Fund, and translated into Spanish by Deliberativa.

Participación ciudadana innovadora y nuevas instituciones democráticas. La ola deliberativa, OCDE, 2020.

First publication that refers to the deliberative wave and makes an extensive work of analysis of deliberative experiences in the world. Translated by the INE National Electoral Institute of Mexico in 2022.

newDemocracy Foundation, R&D Notes

The newDemocracy Foundation (Australia), a pioneer in conceptualizing and implementing deliberative processes, has been producing practice-based notes for many years that are very useful in designing deliberative mini-publics.

Mass LBP, Resources

Mass LBP has been one of the pioneer organizations in implementing deliberative mini-publics from Canada. Their resources are a reference. We highlight the very inspiring videos of processes.

FIDE, Federation for Innovation in Democracy – Europe, Research and Documentation

FIDE, based in Brussels, includes in its Advisory Board organizations from all over Europe (including Deliberativa). It regularly publishes notes and guides referring to various aspects of deliberative processes.

KNOCA, Practical Guidance and Resources

KNOCA, Knowledge network on Climate Assemblies, is a Network created in 2023 that organizes online conferences and workshops on various aspects of Citizen Climate Assemblies, and publishes very useful guides that we recommend to follow.

Demnext, Resources

Demnext is one of the reference organizations when it comes to thinking and activating deliberative processes. Its resource library regularly integrates new materials. We especially highlight its guide, which has been translated into Spanish by the Delib Network.

Deliberative Integrity, Research notes

Ethical integrity is vital to the practice of democracy, and must be applied to deliberative processes. This project, developed by the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra, Australia, investigates the concept of deliberative integrity.

Bertelsmann Stiftung, Shortcuts

The German Bertelsmann Foundation publishes short notes on case studies of deliberative democracy. We especially recommend SHORTCUT 7 (March 2022, The Ostbelgien Model), andSHORTCUT 9 (January 2023, Deliberative Committees).

Learnings from Madrid, newDemocracy Foundation, 2020

Institutionalising deliberative democracy through its Observatorio de la Ciudad, An article written by Lynn Carson and Arantxa Mendiharat, which takes stock of the first permanent Citizen Assembly that was created in the world in 2018 from the Madrid City Council.

Press articles

“A citizens’ assembly to mitigate floods: what Valencia can learn from the Polish city of Gdansk”.

eldiario.es, Andrés Actis, 3/03/2025

“Talking makes people understand each other, shall we deliberate?”

20 minutes, CSIC Blog, Ernesto Ganuza, 01/04/2024

“Citizens’ assemblies: are they the future of democracy?”

The Guardian, Eva Talmadge, 1/02/2023

“Citizens can change the course of their country: six examples that corroborate this”.

eldiario.es, Paola Amigo, 10/05/2022

“A deliberative process is about unlearning the habits of a public sphere that has become polarization-oriented.”

Wilder Journal by Platoniq, Tayrine Dias and Olivier Schulbaum, Interview with Oliver Escobar, 5/07/2022

“The lottery can improve democracies and prevent the rise of populisms.”

Crónica Global, Manel Manchón, Interview with Arantxa Mendiharat, 1/11/2020

“The citizens’ assembly is an essential mechanism for addressing the climate crisis.”

El País, Clemente Álvarez, 12/10/2020

«Civic lottery: the “reasonable solution” to curb the “brutal crisis of trust” in politics»

Cuarto Poder, Sara Montero, 1/10/2020

“Zozketa zibikoak baliagarriagoak dira erabakiak hartzeko”.

Berria, Jon O. Urain, 10/29/2020

Videos and podcasts

Audiovisual documentaries on Citizens’ Assemblies

The resource page of the Delib Network brings together audiovisual documentaries from both international processes and mini-publics that have been organized in Barcelona, Tolosa (Gipuzkoa, Basque Country) or in the Valencian Community.

Col-lapse, 3cat, David Van Reybrouck, March 2024

An interview of David Van Reybrouck on Catalan television about his book “Against Elections”, 16 min.

Arte.tv, The Lottery Ball: Politics and Gambling, 2021

Program Making History, 18 min. How to found a political order on chance? We recall the sophisticated raffle ceremonies of the Venetian Republic.

KNOCA, Innovation Market, March 2024

The online workshop presents on the latest innovations on the practice and theory of Climate Assemblies. With Marina Leibfried, Phoebe Tickell, Miriam de Pagter, Maria Jagaciak, Oliver Holtaway, Yago Bermejo and Forrest Sparks.

KNOCA, Workshop on Systems Change, May 2023

This online workshop discusses how Citizens’ Assemblies could address the underlying systemic issues that are central to a truly transformative response to the planet’s environmental and social crises. With Claire Mellier (Global Assembly), Stuart Capstick (CAST), Arantxa Mendiharat (Deliberativa) and Bobby Banerjee (City University of London). ‍

Radio 3, Siglo XXI, Civic lottery to re-imagine democracy, 5/10/2020

From minute 21.

Glossary