DPC talks with Dr. Damir Kapidzic (Sarajevo, BiH)

Valery Perry spoke with Dr. Damir Kapidzic, a professor ofpolitical science at the University of Sarajevo. While the process of political campaigns and of elections are on the mind of many following recent elections in Germany, elections coming up in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) and in Serbia, and the midterm elections in the US in November, another form of democraticparticipation is through the process of citizens’ assemblies. Damir has been involved in such assemblies at the local level and at the state level in BiH for several years, as well as conducting academic research on this form of democratic innovation.

They talked about a number of characteristics of successfulassemblies: using sortition to ensure a random and diverse sample of voices in the assembly process; deliberation and selection of specific topics to discuss and drive policy solutions; and how to hold elected politicians to account so they listen to the recommendations from these assemblies and take serious steps to implement them. One of the key challenges of such assemblies is that they are often more suited for tackling highly specific local level issues, and fail to deliver change in the broader structures that shape and drive the political economy. They have different perspectives on the extent to which thepost-war Dayton constitution can ever offer citizens a genuine and functional social contract, but did agree that hearing from citizens on how to architect a better future can bring solutions to the table that have been sorely lacking.