Głos doradczy społeczeństwa: panele obywatelskie w Niemczech i Polsce

Classical approaches to policy advice envisage a clear division of roles between its providers and recipients, i.e. experts and politicians. However, this dualistic scheme is beginning to erode. In the concept of policy-oriented public advice, which this chapter takes as its starting point, an additional, distinct role is assigned to citizens. Using the heuristic of Römmele and Schober (2011), as well as examples from Germany and Poland, we argue that – under some conditions – ordinary citizens can help develop solutions to complex and ambiguous socio-political challenges. Citizen assemblies offer a methodology that can allow for articulation of citizens’ consultative voice, based on the principle of random selection of participants. The chapter includes a discussion of the characteristics of this format, presents their functions and the boundary conditions that should be met for the use of citizen assemblies to be purposeful and effective. Similarities and differences in the functioning of citizens’ assemblies in Poland and Germany are also presented, particularly regarding the advisory mandate of these bodies.