A key element of a vibrant democracy is ensuring that the political system is fair and responds to the needs and expectations of all its citizens.  Democratic participation and public engagement processes are vital to ensure equality, social justice, and accountability. In the context of accelerated and disruptive climate action approaches emerging democratic practices such as citizens’ assemblies and environmental activist movements stand out as important social formations.  Citizens’ assemblies are often construed as ‘consensus’ driven practices, while standing in contrast environmental activist movements are typically construed as ‘agonistic’ or ‘conflictual’ democratic practices. Yet both are valuable manifestations of citizenship that can provide new spaces for dialogue, deliberation and experimentation. Indeed, these sharp distinctions might limit our understanding of the role and the synergies of different practices within a diverse and responsive democracy. This webinar seeks to consider and situate emerging democratic practices within the continuum of consensus and agonistic processes and explore their potential to enrich political debate. We hope to focus our discussion on two key themes:

1. The role and responsibility of SSH to ‘open up’ as opposed to ‘closing down’ active political spaces for critical debate.
2. The challenges and opportunities of linking consensus driven processes with other more radical forums and ideas. Allowing these to meaningfully co-exist within a wider deliberative system where each acts as a check and a balance on the other.