More sortition required for Arnsberg

A Citizens' Jury for more togetherness and democracy in the German city of Arnsberg wants a permanent mini-public for the city. The results of the jury were presented to the public on 7 December 2024 and submitted to the city council on 12 December.
The aim of the Citizens' Jury was to promote social interaction in Arnsberg and make democratic values more visible in everyday life. ‘Democracy is created wherever people interact with each other on a daily basis: in the family, in leisure time, in urban society, in schools and increasingly also in social media. These areas require close cooperation between local politics, administration and citizens in order to strengthen democratic values and share responsibility,‘ says the Citizens’ Jury documentation.
Practical approaches for democratic cooperation
The Citizens' Jury also looked at individual options for action. Instead of simply formulating recommendations for politicians and administrators, the participants developed ideas that demonstrate practical approaches for democratic coexistence in various areas of life.
The most important thing for the members of the Citizens‘ Jury is the establishment of a permanent mini-public. Citizens' juries were seen as a permanent instrument of democratic participation that should promote dialogue between people from different cultural backgrounds.
What is a permanent citizens' jury?
Permanent citizens‘ juries differ from other mini-publics by having a procedure that is regulated at municipal level, e.g. by a statute. At regular intervals, newly randomly selected participants discuss current issues and formulate recommendations for action for the city council. The idea of permanent Citizens' Jury originated in the German-speaking Community of East Belgium with its permanent citizens' dialogue. There are now imitators in Aachen, Brussels, Lüneburg, Milan and Paris.
Another key suggestion from the Arnsberg Citizens‘ Jury was to actively involve all citizens who have expressed an interest in participating in a mini-public in order to fully utilise its potential.
Transparency desired
The topic of transparency and access to information also seemed important to the jury participants. In particular, this involves the live broadcasting of council meetings and the city's more intensive use of digital and social platforms to provide residents with direct and comprehensive information.
It was also proposed to organise city festivals with a democratic theme in order to promote awareness of democratic values in an accessible and lively way. In addition, the strengthening of neighbourhood relationships was highlighted as a means of social cohesion and local networking.
Promoting media skills and an understanding of democracy
The participants are also in favour of targeted campaigns to promote media literacy in order to educate the population about the dangers of the digital space, such as cyberbullying. They also called for the promotion of democratic understanding and skills, particularly among young people, for example through external speakers in schools or the establishment of permanent democracy working groups with workshops.
One creative approach was the idea of a so-called democracy bus - a mobile meeting point that is supervised by volunteers and could create space for dialogue, discussion and information on site. The introduction of a youth council was also seen as an important step towards involving young people in democratic processes and the appointment of a democracy commissioner was considered sensible.
Realising ideas
Another key point was the desire that the ideas developed should not only be discussed, but actually implemented. It was emphasised that genuine participation requires appreciation and visible results
4,000 randomly selected residents of Arnsberg were invited to take part in the Citizens' Jury. The random selection was based on the municipality's resident register. Interested parties could apply to take part by completing a reply form. Of the 4,000 people invited, 90 expressed an interest in taking part. From this group, a group of 30 people was put together in such a way that it represented as good a picture as possible of the Arnsberg population in terms of gender, age, net household income, household size and neighbourhood.
Meeting on 23 November
Two people were unable to attend due to illness, meaning that the Citizens' Jury consisted of 28 people. All those who could not attend received a further personal letter with an invitation to the public presentation of the results.
On 23 November 2024, the Citizens' Jury members met from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Bürgerzentrum Bahnhof Arnsberg. There they were able to get to know each other and find out what motivated them to participate. Dr David Gehne, Managing Director of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Regional Research (ZEFIR) at Ruhr University Bochum, introduced the topic. He was already involved in the ‘Bürgerkommune Arnsberg’ project in 2008.
Challenges of democracy discussed
The Citizens' Jury members then discussed what motivated them to take part in the mini-public. They also discussed what the participants experience as democracy in their environment. The participants were also asked what they found particularly challenging about democracy at the time of the Citizens' Jury. This was followed by an exchange of opinions and a collection of ideas from the participants as part of a world café.
With relatively little effort and professional guidance, a world café opens up a safe space to get to know the different perspectives on a topic, to discover patterns and recognise goals and connections, to get to know new ways of interacting, to work together, to listen carefully, to question, to discuss constructively and thus to solve problems together. The aim is to give everyone involved as much of a voice as possible, to find common goals and strategies and thereby develop their willingness to participate in the change processes in their favour.
Subject areas
In terms of content, the topics covered were
- Democracy with regard to education / working with children and young people
- Democracy in the family
- Democracy in urban society / leisure / everyday life
The following questions were discussed at three themed tables:
- How do I currently experience democracy in this area?
- What good examples do I know of how democracy is already being promoted here?
- What changes and new ideas are needed?
- Who could promote these ideas?
Key topics identified
Finally, key topics were identified from the collection of ideas. With the help of a points system, in which all participants were able to distribute three sticky dots, a ranking of the favoured proposals and ideas was created.
The Citizens‘ Jury documentation contains a number of positive statements from members of the citizens’ assembly:
‘I was expecting completely different discussion content on the topic of democracy and thought it would be about scrutinising the work of the administration. But I was able to engage well with the other content and that was also fine for me.’
‘Opportunity to rethink your own views’
‘The exchange with others gives you the opportunity to rethink your own views.’
‘The diversity of the group, also in terms of the mixed age structure, is great and offers a very good opportunity to exchange ideas with people with whom there is otherwise less contact.’
‘Setting out on something new’
‘The Citizens' Jury is like starting something new.’
‘I have become more motivated to get involved in politics/volunteering.’
All participants recommend taking part in a mini-public.
Information for politicians, administration and citizens
The results of this Citizens' Jury were presented to the public on 7 December 2024. The aim of the event was to inform politicians, representatives of the city administration and other interested citizens of the city of Arnsberg about the contents of the Citizens' Jury, to involve them and to invite them to participate. The presentation was actively supported by some of the jury participants. They shared their impressions and reported on the aspects they felt were particularly important.
The Citizens' Jury on Togetherness and Democracy was already the third such mini-public in the city. The first Citizens' Jury in 2022 dealt with overcoming the energy crisis at the time. In 2023, the topic was ‘Positive effects on my ecological footprint’.