New article published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of Sortition. In The Limits of Representativeness in Citizens’ Assemblies: A Critical Analysis of Democratic Minipublics Paolo Spada and I explores key questions about representation in citizens’ assemblies, building on ideas from a blog post we publised two years ago. Refined through discussions with scholars and practitioners – particularly in the Deliberative Democracy Digest – it examines the challenges of representativeness and proposes constructive paths forward.

We explore ways to enhance these democratic innovations by:

• Integrating multiple minipublics to address inclusion failures.
• Leveraging emerging technologies, like AI-supported mediation, to scale deliberation.
• Shifting the focus of legitimacy from unattainable claims of representativeness to fostering inclusion and preventing domination by organized minorities.

By reframing these approaches, we hope to contribute to ongoing efforts to make citizens’ assemblies more inclusive, effective, and impactful for democratic governance.

Printed copies of this inaugural issue are available free upon request here.