Democracy Uder Maintenance: The Potential of the Citizens Assembly to Develop Democracy

Abstract

This thesis addresses the potential of the citizens' assembly as a format to develop democracy as a form of government. This perspective is based upon an interest in investigating how the citizens' assembly creates new conditions for the citizens’ democratic participation. This originates from a public opinion to rethink and innovate democratic formats that reduce the distance and increase trust between citizens and politicians. By applying Michel Foucault's concept of ‘techne’ and ‘gouvernmentality’ this thesis finds a practice that integrates power and knowledge which produces a moral obligation that makes citizens responsible for democracy in several ways. This in turn invokes citizens to engage in democracy in an active and responsible manner, while citizens who reject the responsibility justifies the technology’s governing as they are deemed as inactive, irresponsible, and unengaged. Thereby the conditions of power determine the inclusiveness and freedom of the citizens' assembly. Based on this the thesis finds the citizens' assembly is embedded in a unique deliberative identity of knowledge related to a regime of governance. This thesis analysesthe necessity in the relation between power and freedom with Foucault's concept of power and finds that citizens' assembly produces contradicting expectations that transfers paradoxes of government to the citizens' self-governance unintentionally. This results in a hyper-reflexive and strategically oriented behavior, which in certain circumstances challenges the regime’s own deliberative ideals. On the one hand the investigation of the citizens' assembly enables critical thinking of the democratic system in place, which brings forth some of the prevalent issues. On the other hand, there is the risk that the citizens' assembly pacifies the criticism of deliberative ideals. Therefore, this thesis concludes that careful consideration is warranted whenever the citizens' assembly is framed as the better alternative compared to other formats for participating in the democracy.