Ieva Česnulaitytė

Can citizen deliberation and empowered citizens’ assemblies act as an antidote to authoritarianism, and if so, in what ways? To what extent are citizens’ assemblies resilient to potential influence and manipulation (from within or external)? What kind of pushback do they receive from opposing forces, which arguably will increase in the future as they gain more and more power? These are the questions Ieva Česnulaitytė aims to tackle with the goal of drawing lessons for the future use of new deliberative institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.