다층적 시민의회 제안

Abstract

Today, the principle of democracy is representative democracy combined with representative system. The representative system is based on the principle of excellence. Therefore, it was considered contrary to democracy, which is based on the principle of equality. However, as the essence of democracy changed from citizen rule to citizen election, representative system was recognized as a type of democracy. Ideological bases of the representative system is the separation of the right to form institutions and the right to make policy decisions, and the free delegation of the right to make policy decisions. Ideological bases of this representative system acquires democratic legitimacy through the principle of consent. However, the representative system alienates the people from governance and has limitations such as biased representation, lack of participation, and lack of public good. Citizens’ assembly is presented as one of the alternatives to overcome this problem and limitations of the representative system. Today, citizen assemblies are widely used mainly in OECD countries, notably include Ireland’s Constitutional Convention and Citizens’ Assembly. The basic elements of a citizens' assembly includes mini-publics, a lottery system, and deliberative democracy. But, citizens' assembly has difficulty securing democratic legitimacy and alienates the people from governance. To overcome these problems, a proposal for multilayered citizens’ assemblies is suggested. Multi-layered citizens’ assemblies, while faithful to the basic elements of a citizens’ assembly, secure democratic legitimacy based on the principle of imperative delegation rather than free delegation, and solve the problem of public alienation by introducing elements of direct democracy. The inspiration for multilayered citizens’ assemblies come from proposals for the introduction of lottery-based citizen assemblies and the process of enacting the U.S. Federal Constitution. they are structured into four layers: the residents’ general meeting at the town or village level, the basic citizens’ assembly at the municipal level, the metropolitan citizens’ assembly at the regional level, and the national citizens’ assembly at the national level. The residents’ general meeting consists of all residents, but the basic citizens’ assembly, metropolitan citizens’ assembly, and national citizens’ assembly consist of residents selected by lottery. The process of multilayered citizens’ assemblies begins with the initiative of a resident, and goes through four stages of deliberation: the residents’ general meeting, the basic citizens’ assembly, the metropolitan citizens’ assembly, and the national citizens’ assembly, as well as the necessary ratification procedures. Multilayered citizens’ assembly achieve the effect of the people’s initiative and have many advantages over the people’s initiative.