Tribune. The resistance of democracies suddenly arises with the invasion of Ukraine and raises questions about our own crisis of representation and more generally about democratic “fatigue”. In France, the presidential campaign, however shortened, cannot avoid the subject of citizen participation.
There is no shortage of proposals from candidates, political scientists or citizen movements to strengthen participation, outside of the elections themselves. From citizens’ conventions, through citizens’ initiative referendums (RIC), to citizen participation in legislative work or in a Constituent Assembly, to name the essential.
Each device has of course advantages and disadvantages, but all suffer from the same limits which do not make it possible to meet the high expectations of the French for the widest possible participation. The ambition of democratic refoundation is however at this price.
The first major limitation relates to the intermittency of the formulas for participation. We will not convene a citizens’ convention every month, we will not propose a referendum more than once a year, the citizens will not spend their time legislating, and the organization of a Constituent Assembly for a VIe République is a single-shot rifle. The quest for a permanent or continuous democracy will not find its account there.
Overly restrictive “votes”
The second limit relates to the weak effective participation. Obvious for the citizens’ conventions which bring together at most 150 people drawn by lot. Their representativeness is questionable due to a reduced sample of available volunteers, particularly motivated by the subject, which distinguishes them from the rest of the population. Admittedly, interested French people can participate in the debate by proxy, but without effective participation of the greatest number. Even in an extended referendum process, the “votes”, to use the term and the example of Switzerland, are around an average turnout of 42%. Whatever the mode of participation proposed, it is the most motivated who show up.
Finally, the third limitation, the mechanisms are generally more consultative than participatory. The questions most often come from the powers that be who do not always respect the verdict if it does not meet their expectations, like the 2005 referendum on the European Constitution. Or during the recent climate convention whose conclusions were to be adopted “without filter”.
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