Page 28 - Enabling National Initiatives to Take Democracy Beyond Elections

26 A Project of the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) The norms of political campaigning over the last 30 years have focused on control. Candidates often go to public appearances which are carefully screened and filtered by advisors in an effort to control the message and shape what the electorate hears. It isn’t working. At all. Being in power has many challenges beyond your control. We think the hardest of these is that citizens only ever have an incentive to get a passing knowledge about many topics which leads them to think there is an easy decision you are not taking. And on top of that they can be (justifiably) cynical and assume the worst of motives. It makes a tough job harder. Politicians who have used Citizens’Assemblies and Citizens’Juries well have changed their view on the nature of their leadership. Rather than viewing leadership as selling a fixed view, they see the role as to put big decisions on the agenda then leading a public discussion to hear many potential solutions before taking the final decision.