Deliberative democracy is starting a quiet democratic revolution worldwide

Tomorrow marks the beginning of a series of citizens’ assemblies, organised by the Electoral Reform Society in partnership with academics from Sheffield, Southampton and London, which will be taking place in Southampton and Sheffield over the next month. In this article, Chris Terry discusses the trend of grassroots deliberation which has been gaining momentum since the late 1980s. He argues deliberative democracy tools can help to improve and legitimise political decision-making in an age of detachment from traditional political elites.