Should a grand citizens assembly be the central legislative authority instead of a congress/parliament?

I have been looking at different models of democracy like representative democracy, direct democracy, deliberative democracy, a system of local democracy that sends delegates to a central body, and democratic centralism as practiced in communist states. I’ve also been looking into unicameral and bicameral systems and considered tricameral or quadcameral systems. Should there be an unelected chamber, how much should activists, stakeholders, and experts influence legislation etc. Stuff like that. It doesn’t seem like there is any one perfect system, and each one would have their own benefits and draw backs, which is obvious. But an idea I have come to that I’d like to know opinions/arguments/critiques on is based on the deliberative model. And there is one question that I am wrangling with: who should have legislative authority? A national citizens assembly or a traditional representative body?

What if you had a grand national citizens assembly that had 6 “interests” influencing it?

These 6 influences on the national citizens assembly would be:

  1. Elected Chamber: Ideological Interest
  2. Delegated Chamber: Regional Interest
  3. Academic Bodies: Factual Interest
  4. Stakeholder Bodies: Affected/Experienced Interest
  5. Industry/Business Representatives: Industry Interest
  6. Specified Citizens Assemblies: Citizen Interest

Let’s say you had a grand national citizens assembly, these 6 interests groups would draft bills in a specific subject area and then introduce them to the grand assembly. Each interest group would then try to persuade the grand assembly of their set of policies and argue against policies from other interest groups. The central assembly would then select provisions from each bill that they’ve been convinced of and synthesize these policies into a new piece of legislation that will be carried out by the executive branch.

Is this too convoluted? What are the drawbacks? Any thoughts, opinions, critiques, or arguments?

Should a citizens assembly have the final say or should legislation be sent to an elected body for approval?

Posted Jul 9, 2025, 6:13 PM UTC

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