Gender equality in collaborative governance: How?

Ione Ardaiz, Naia Begiristain, Miren Estensoro, Naiara Goia, Claudia Icaran, Miren Larrea and Ane Miren Valenciano. Governance and Gender: How to approach it? In a previous publication, a group of professionals from Arantzazulab and Orkestra shared our intention to launch a dialogue space on “Governance and Gender” in the coming months. Within the framework of…

37 students from Canada and Euskadi tackle the challenge of «Reimagining the role of the citizen for the next generation» during their one-week stay at Arantzazulab

Arantzazulab hosted a new edition of the Challenge Week from February 17 to 21, in which 37 students from Canada and Euskadi spent a week at our laboratory. Based on the challenge of “Reimagining the role of the citizen for the next generation”, the students reflected on this issue and ended the week by proposing…

Introducing tech-enhanced deliberation to cooperative decision-making and governance

We are very excited to announce a new collaborative initiative between MONDRAGON, DemocracyNext, MIT Center for Constructive Communication (CCC) and Arantzazulab to learn and explore new ways to democratise workplace decision-making. In 2025, we will be exploring ways to put this in practice in MONDRAGON’s cooperatives to learn how the principles behind citizens’ assemblies –…

Lekeitio700 – Connecting Theory and Practice to Deepen Democracy

On the rainy morning of January 25th, various members and collaborators of Arantzazulab Democracy Innovation Lab traveled to Lekeitio to present and facilitate a session as part of the Lekeitio 700 initiative. Among the many activities organised to commemorate the 700th anniversary of this coastal town in Biscay, a session was promoted to reflect on…

Collaborative Governance and Gender: Conditions for a constructive process in the field of public policy

Ione Ardaiz, Naia Begiristain, Miren Estensoro, Naiara Goia, Claudia Icaran, Miren Larrea and Ane Miren Valenciano. After several years of collaboration between Arantzazulab and Orkestra in the framework of the public policies of the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa promoting collaborative governance, we, the authors of this post, want to deeper explore the intersection between this…

Challenge-led Innovation: (re)designing democracy to address the challenges of our time

Prof Ingrid Burkett, Griﬃth Centre for Systems Innovation and The Good Shift (Australia). We are living in a global context facing significant ecological, social, cultural and political crises. Some refer to this period as a ‘polycrisis’ or ‘metacrisis’. The big question is whether this context requires a redesign of democracy (principles and processes) in order…

The plebiscitary democracy of social media reactions

Prof Paolo Gerbaudo – Complutense University, Madrid. The plebiscitary democracy of social media reactions What is wrong with it and what we can learn from it. During the pioneering phase of the internet pioneering thinkers and practitioners envisioned a future where digital technology would have ushered in a better democracy. Concerned about decreasing trust in…

The OECD report presented in Tolosa recognises the Citizens’ Assemblies developed in the Basque Country as good practice

A broad representation of different institutions met in Tolosa to discuss the institutionalisation of deliberative democracy. The event took place at the Tolosaldea Garatzen Centre and was organised by Tolosa City Council, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the Arantzazulab Laboratory for Innovation in Democracy. The meeting lasted all morning and several…

Design, democracy and public policy: Opportunities for transformation

Prof Lucy Kimbell – Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. For over two decades, citizens, researchers, policy makers and social innovators have turned to design to help innovate in the face of democratic challenges. There are now many examples of projects, teams and resources in governments, civil society and universities around the world…

Defending Public Deliberation in Techno-Feudal Times

Prof Nicole Curato – Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance, University of Canberra. Our political conversations are increasingly taking place in a privatized public sphere. This is a space where the platforms we use to discuss politics are but designed and controlled by tech corporations with the primary goal of maximizing profit. What this means…