The volume Climate Assemblies, edited by internationally renowned scholars of democratic innovation Oliver Escobar and Stephen Elstub, has recently been published. Among its contributions is a chapter by researchers from our institute, Dániel Oross and Zsolt Boda, which examines the effectiveness of climate assemblies within the current Hungarian political context.

In September 2020, the first Hungarian Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Policy was organised by the new Mayor of Budapest. This chapter analyses how this local democratic innovation worked and what impact it had on the participants’ attitudes to environmental issues and governance. The viability and success of the process were not evident at the outset, as citizens’ assemblies, citizens’ juries, and other participatory democratic mechanisms have not been used in Hungarian governance. The past decade of illiberal politics has led to reduced citizen activism and shrinking spaces for policy participation. However, the Citizens’ Assembly was a success in terms of organisation, outputs, and evaluation by participants. In terms of policymaking, the recommendations did not generate original ideas compared to the ‘business as usual’ of environmental protection; and they did not require sacrifices or radical behavioural changes from citizens or institutions.

Regarding the impact of the assembly on the participants’ attitudes concerning environmental issues, the study found that participants felt more informed about those issues after the event. The chapter concludes with reflections on the prospects for democratic innovations such as climate assemblies in illiberal political contexts.

The full book is available here.