Equality by lot

“The Citizen Assembly for Norway’s Future” (Framtidspanelet) was a 56 member body of Norwegian citizens selected through what has become the standard “citizen assembly” process and that convened in the period Januray through May 2025. The report associated with the body describes it as being “initiated by seven civil society organizations”, those organizations being Save the Children, Norwegian Church Aid, The Norwegian Children and Youth Council (LNU), Caritas, WWF World Nature Fund, Langsikt – centre for long term policy, and Framtiden i våre hender. I was not able to find a more specific description of how the initiative for this body came about.

The body’s mandate was apparently associated with Norway’s oil fund – a national fund accumulating oil revenue which holds today almost $2 trillion.

The official phrasing of Framtidspanelet’s mandate was:

Norway is one of the world’s richest countries. How can we use our wealth
to the benefit of the world, ourselves and future generations?

• Which considerations and values should guide our choices?
• Which problems in the world do Norway have particularly good reasons to help solve?
• How should the Oil Fund be used now and in the future?

The report lists 19 proposals that were supported by at least 75% of that members, along with a few additional proposals that won a majority but less than 75% and a couple of “minority opinions” which express positions of individual members.

One of the recommendations deals with citizen assemblies:

5. Citizens’ assemblies should be used more and, if they prove effective, become a permanent part of the Parliament’s permanent decision-making process

Norway should continue to use public assemblies as a tool to include citizens’ perspectives in political decisions. The politicians must undertake to listen to and assess the recommendations from the citizens’ assemblies in their decision-making processes. Citizens’ assemblies can help strengthen democratic participation by giving people a concrete and direct channel to influence politics. This can be a means of making politics more representative and include voices of groups that may not otherwise be heard in traditional political processes. Citizens’ assemblies can also make decision-makers more open to input from various social groups.

(I learned about the Framtidspanelet through Hugh Pope’s report on the subject.)

Filed under: Applications, Sortition |