Democracy Without Politicians?

Do we really need politicians in Northern Ireland? We complain about them a lot, but could we do without them?

This short animation by Professor John Garry outlines the potential of using randomly selected citizens as decision makers in Northern Ireland. Could citizens, who deliberate on contentious issues, provide a possible way forward in terms of resolving those issues? What level of support is there among the general public for such an approach to decision making? And what about MLAs? How sceptical are they about this ‘deliberative democracy’ approach to politics?

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