Similar to the federal states of Baden-Württemberg, Thuringia and some municipalities, Saxon’s State Ministry of Justice and for Democracy, European Affairs and Gender Equality (SMJusDEG) has established a Citizens’ Forum Corona from July 2021 onwards. In contrast to other Citizens’ Forums on this topic, the Saxon Citizens’ Forum is not only methodologically designed as a citizens’ council with randomly selected citizens to develop recommendations for the state government, but it is also explicitly aiming at counteracting the division of society and the intensified anti-democratic tendencies made apparent by the Corona pandemic. Thereby, it is also a pilot project for the future design of participation processes in Saxony.
This twofold function of the Citizens’ Assembly Forum Corona is taken into account throughout the evaluation.
The nexus Institute conducts an accompanying, formative, and summarising evaluation of this format. Its aim is to generate findings on the potentials of citizen participation schemes for the Free State of Saxony.
Duration: 09/2021 – 04/2022
Client: Sächsisches Staatsministerium der Justiz und für Demokratie, Europa und Gleichstellung
Team: Prof. Dr. Christiane Dienel (Project Manager), Dr. Christine von Blankenburg, PD Dr. Gordian Haas, Ina Metzner
Partner: IASS Potsdam