The Brexit process has put the UK’s democratic system under great strain, pitting competing democratic visions against each other and exposing weaknesses in each.
Join Queen’s Policy Engagement for our first event of 2020 with Dr Alan Renwick from the UCL Constitution Unit where he will examine those weaknesses and consider possible ways of addressing them. Could the 2016 referendum have been designed differently to create a less polarised process? How could the grievances with current politics that the referendum result highlighted be tackled?
In particular, we will examine whether citizens’ assemblies – randomly selected groups of people who meet over several weekends to learn about, discuss, and make recommendations on selected issues – could make a difference. The strengths, and also the limitations, of this approach will be explored and possible paths forward proposed.
This special event takes place on Monday 6 January 2020 in the Canada Room at Queen’s. Registration from 6pm; talk starts 6.30pm. To register, please click here.
About Dr Alan Renwick
Dr Alan Renwick is Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit at University College London. He led the 2017 UK Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit and in 2019, with MichelaPalese, published a major report on strengthening democracy, Doing Democracy Better: How Can Information and Discourse in Election and Referendum Campaigns in the UK Be Improved? Alan is now project lead for the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland.
QPol is the ‘front door’ for public policy engagement at Queen’s University Belfast, supporting academics and policymakers in sharing evidence-based research and ideas on the major social, cultural and economic challenges facing society regionally, nationally and beyond. Website: qpol.qub.ac.uk Email: [email protected]
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