This case was written by Frederick Andrews and Thomas Broughton

Problems and Purpose

The Civic Council was established as a countrywide initiative to conduct multiple-stage conversations about the problem of energy poverty and rising energy costs in Poland. This initiative aimed to address a crisis affecting approximately 1.3 million Polish households, representing roughly 10% of the population (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.3).

The purpose of the Council was to address systemic gaps, such as the lack of a long-term state strategy and the presence of ineffective support programs and financial inaccessibility. Additionally, the Civic Council aimed to find solutions to these problems by integrating the perspectives of experts, decision-makers, and randomly selected citizens. Its primary goal was to develop a roadmap for a 15-year national strategy.

Background History and Context

Energy poverty and uncertainty was seen as a key issue due to the significant socio-economic turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which led to a European energy crisis and heightened fears regarding national energy security (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.3). This issue is especially crucial due to Poland’s reliance on fossil fuels and energy imports which has been disrupted by factors like Russia’s war and the Covid-19 Pandemic (IEA, 2024).

Additionally, Poland already has a history of using Civic Councils with the Gdansk Civic Council being the first in 2016, which was followed by nine more in seven different principalities within Poland (Gasiorowska, 2023).

In the broader political context, Poland had experienced significant democratic backsliding since 2015 (Bernhard, 2021, p.587). Polarisation among the population had increased 41% between 2001 and 2021 (Smoczyński, 2024).

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The project was primarily organized and commissioned by the Shipyard Foundation (Fundacja Stocznia) with the Copernicus Science Centre (Centrum Nauki Kopernik) serving as the main partner of the project (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.38).

The project was funded and supported by the European Climate Foundation. Additionally, the Polish Academy of Sciences acted as the knowledge partner, with Orange Polska as a formal project partner (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.38).

Substantive support and governance were provided by a Council of Experts representing 18 different organisations. This council included (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.38):

1. Think tanks and research institutes
2. Environmental and climate organisations
3. Social and consumer rights groups
4. Local government and energy associations
5. Deliberation specialists

Participant Recruitment and Selection

Recruitment for the 45 local councils was decentralised, led by local leaders, NGOs and government units using standardised scripts. These meetings engaged nearly 700 participants, intentionally blending the perspectives of experts, activists, and citizens directly affected by energy poverty. While most councils were open to all community members, some were tailored to specific generational groups, such as youth or seniors. The resulting group was highly diverse, with ages ranging from 15 to 97 and including various professional backgrounds such as pensioners and entrepreneurs (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.13). Approximately 60% of attendees were women, a demographic makeup influenced by the recruitment efforts of the Women at the Center Association (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.12).

In contrast, selection for the nationwide assembly was a more rigorous process designed to create a representative microcosm for the country known as "Poland in a nutshell" (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10). This group of 96 participants was randomly selected from the adult population (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.18). To achieve true representativeness, the selection was weighted so that demographics regarding gender, education, place of residence, and income level mirrored the entire Polish population (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.18). Recruitment was conducted primarily over the phone, which organizers described as a significant challenge (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.18). This massive outreach effort required 111 interviewers to process 113,000 answered calls, yielding 221 preliminary consents before the final participants were chosen (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10). Continuity between the two stages was maintained by including eight individuals in the national assembly who had previously participated in local council meetings (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10).

Methods and Tools Used

The educational phase of the project relied on grounding citizens in facts and diverse perspectives through various instructional tools. For the local councils, organisers were provided with detailed handbooks, pre-recorded videos, and educational boards (Brzozowska et al, 2022A, p.14). During the national assembly’s education weekend, participants heard from 20 experts covering energy efficiency, low income, and energy costs, and they engaged in intensive Q&A sessions, asking a total of 470 questions (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10). To help participants consider the common good beyond their personal interests, organizers utilized "personae", profiles representing archetypes of those most affected by energy poverty (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.17).

Deliberation was carefully managed to ensure a safe and constructive environment through structured facilitation techniques. Participants worked in small-group table discussions of 7 to 10 people, and the process included ten group rotations to ensure that individuals interacted with a wide range of fellow citizens and viewpoints (KNOCA, 2022). Moderators used pre-prepared scripts to guide these face-to-face sessions, allowing the group to move from identifying problems to drafting concrete solutions and a shared "Voice of the assembly" preamble.

The final decision-making phase transformed these deliberations into a formal "verdict" through a weighted voting system. Participants evaluated approximately 100 policy recommendations on a five-point scale (from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree") (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.24). This final national voting was conducted during an online evening session using Zoom for communication and an online form on the Lime platform (Lime Survey) for casting ballots (KNOCA, 2022). In the grassroots local councils, the verdict was captured through anonymous questionnaires filled out at the end of each session (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.15).

To assess the project's success and maintain transparency, organizers utilized qualitative research methods and digital dissemination tools. Impact researchers used contrastive analyses of "before" and "after" surveys to track changes in participant knowledge and attitudes (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.14). Furthermore, the project maintained an extensive online presence through an official website and social media account (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.44). Education webinars helped organisers to familiarise themselves with the methodology and subject matter (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.14).

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

The process consisted of two main phases: grassroots local civic councils and a demographically representative nationwide citizens’ assembly. The first stage, which took place between March and June 2022, involved 45 local meetings across Poland, ranging from large urban centers like Wrocław to small villages like Jedlicze (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.10-11). These councils lasted between 1.5 and 3.5 hours and used tools like standardized scripts and workshop materials (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.14-15). The primary goal of these local interactions was to gather grassroots opinions and ensure the final national verdict was "rooted in reality" rather than just expert data. These meetings allowed for a wide range of perspectives, bringing together citizens directly affected by energy poverty, local government officials, and climate activists to share a common platform for the first time. Many participants arrived at these meetings feeling "lonely and helpless" in the face of rising energy costs ((Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.7), but the structured dialogue allowed them to discuss public policies matter-of-factly, and come to support many solutions for the problems at hand.

The second phase was the nationwide citizens’ assembly, involving a group of 96 participants selected through a rigorous random sampling method which was done to be representative of Poland. The structure of this assembly followed a strict four-step path: sampling, an education weekend, a deliberation weekend, and final voting.The education weekend was essential because organizers recognized that while participants did not need to be experts to join, professional expertise was required for them to draft responsible solutions. During this phase, participants engaged in 6 hours of presentations from 20 experts and spent 4 hours in discussion, asking around 470 questions to clarify verified data on energy costs and efficiency (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10-11). This intensive learning process was a challenge for the participants due to the massive amount of data, but it resulted in a large portion of participants reporting a measurable improvement in their knowledge of the problem. Expert presentations provided the necessary foundation, while the subsequent interactions between participants allowed them to contextualize this data within their own lived experiences (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.16).

The core of the interaction occurred during the deliberation weekend, where approximately 10 hours of moderated talks took place. To ensure a high quality of dialogue and to reduce social polarization, the organizers implemented several key techniques. Participants were divided into small groups across 10 tables, which increased each individual's chance to speak and ensured no one felt unheard. A critical element of the process was the use of 10 group rotations, meaning participants constantly changed table compositions to encounter the widest possible variety of viewpoints and life situations (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.11).Professional moderators were present at every table to maintain a safe environment and ensure respectful communication, preventing any single individual from dominating the discussion. Additionally, the organizers used the ‘personae’ to help move the conversation beyond narrow self-interest. This tool encouraged participants to think about the common good and design policies as if they were "designing the rules of a board game" without knowing their own starting position, whether lucky or extremely poor (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.17).

The result of this intensive interaction was a measurable shift in attitudes and behaviors. Evaluation surveys revealed that 98% of participants felt comfortable expressing divergent views, a 19-percentage-point increase from the start of the process (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.14). Furthermore, 71% of participants admitted they changed their minds on certain topics after hearing from others (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.19). This "culture of listening" was viewed by participants and observers as a remedy for the poor quality of general social dialogue in Poland. Participants successfully bridged differences in age, education, and political views, with 72% concluding that ordinary people can reach agreements despite their differences (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.54). This experience significantly impacted the participants' sense of agency; after the assembly, 77% believed that their everyday experiences were just as valuable as scientific knowledge in policy-making (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.20), and 96% stated they would participate in such an assembly again (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.61).

The final interaction involved voting on approximately 100 solutions, which were a mix of proposals from experts and 60 new solutions developed entirely by the citizens during the deliberation weekends (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.24). The process aimed for a high degree of consensus, which was achieved because the solutions were "jointly drafted" by the participants themselves. The recommendations focused on a 15-year national strategy, modernizing the electricity grid, and increasing renewable energy sources (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.10). One particular recommendation received 100% support: the promotion of local solutions based on citizens’ self-organization and self-government (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.27). Participants noted that they showed "strategic thinking" as they were not driven by "vested interests" (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.17). Instead, the interaction fostered a "social contract" approach, increasing the legitimacy of the proposed climate and energy policies.

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

The primary outcome of the project was a formal verdict consisting of 100 policy recommendations aimed at both central and local authorities. The most critical demands included the creation of a 15-year national energy strategy and the modernisation of the power grid to accommodate renewable energy sources. Participants also advocated for the establishment of an Energy Transformation Fund, which would redirect 70% of revenues from the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) into climate and environmental objectives (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.29). Other key outcomes focused on practical accessibility, such as creating "one-stop-shops" for energy efficiency advice and increasing the supply of affordable, energy-efficient housing (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.11).

Socially, the project had a substantial impact on public awareness and participant attitudes. By March 2023, one-third of the Polish population had heard of the nationwide assembly (Szczurek et al, 2024, p. 5). Media coverage was extensive, reaching over 73 million recipients with coverage being overwhelmingly neutral or positive (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.48). For those directly involved, the project led to a significant "return of faith in democracy," with nearly all participants agreeing that such efforts increase citizens' impact on policy (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.20). This social influence translated into behavioural changes, as participants reported taking private actions like replacing heating sources or joining the "Clean Air" thermal modernisation programme (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.11).

In the political arena, the project influenced the broader discourse on energy transition and just transition. During the 2023 parliamentary elections, the electoral programmes of the major political parties included provisions on the energy transition, with some of parties’ policies overlapping with the assembly’s recommendations, particularly regarding prosumer energy and the role of local advisors (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.23). Since the change of government in late 2023, there has been a higher convergence between the assembly's proposals and government actions, such as the updated National Energy and Climate Plan. While direct legislative changes are often long-term, the project succeeded in moving energy poverty from a marginal issue to a major political matter (Szczurek et al,2024, p.13).

The systemic impact is visible in the development of a culture of dialogue and listening in a heavily polarised society. The project helped establish a conceptual language and definitions for describing energy poverty (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.13). Furthermore, there is an increased awareness among decision-makers at various institutional levels that the "voice of ordinary citizens" should be integrated into public policy planning (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.12). This has encouraged the integration of social problems, such as linking energy poverty to air quality and the isolation of the elderly, leading to more holistic policy thinking.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

To give a comparative analysis of the strengths and limitations of the Polish civic council and national assembly on energy costs, we will be using the analytical framework put forward by Graham Smith (2009) which he identifies as the democratic goods. Smith defines these goods as inclusiveness, popular control, considered judgement, transparency, efficiency and transferability. Using this, we will analyse the case study using each of the democratic goods in turn to outline and analyse how the case study achieved or failed to fulfil the democratic goods.

Firstly, Smith defines inclusiveness through two primary lenses: presence, which concerns the fairness and representativeness of participant selection, and voice, which ensures all participants have an equal opportunity to contribute to the discussion (Smith, 2009, p.12,21).

When it comes to ‘presence’, the council was effective at achieving inclusive this within the national assembly with the ‘Poland in a nutshell’ approach. This mirroring of the population is good for inclusivity as it made the council very representative but this may be purely descriptive and not epistemic as marginalised groups may still lack the confidence to translate presence into influence. Additionally, the council made an effort to counter the trend of ‘unequal participation’ where engagement is typically skewed toward those with higher wealth and education (Smith, 2009, p.14) by providing honorariums which covered all travel, meal and accommodation costs for participants (KNOCA, 2022). This helped inclusivity as it neutralized the financial barriers that often exclude low-income groups from democratic innovations like this due to financial and time constraints. However, a drawback may be the use of phone calls for recruitment as many participants who gave preliminary consent accepted due to the belief that the national assembly was important for Polish democracy (Brzozwska et al, 2022a, p.18). This suggests that the recruitment method might have unintentionally favoured individuals who already possessed a higher baseline of trust in democracy and democratic innovations, potentially marginalising the more cynical or alienated citizens who democratic innovations aim to empower, thereby limiting the overall inclusiveness.

In contrast, the local civic council recruitment led to less inclusivity. Local councils saw disproportionate female participation, with farmers being underrepresented (Ibid, p.13). Additionally, the stigma of poverty acted as a psychological barrier for presence as many residents were reluctant to attend meetings where they might be labelled as poor by the people in their community who could be affected by the problem (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.34).

For voice, rotational moderation helped prevent dominance of more confident or educational speakers (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.14). This structure ensured that participants felt their everyday experiences were as valuable as scientific expertise fulfilling the criteria of equal and substantive opportunity. This also allowed participants to interact with a broader range of their peers which links to considered judgement, as more citizens were able to discuss together and learn new viewpoints, allowing for cooperation on finding solutions for the issues in question.

In contrast, a challenge was ‘information overload’ as the massive amount of data was difficult for non-specialist participants to process which may have privileged participants with higher educational backgrounds. Furthermore, local councils were often restricted timewise which both the hosts and participants felt were insufficient (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.15). While essential for considered judgment, the technical complexity of the presentations risked overwhelming participants (Smith, 2009, p.16). Additionally, short deliberation windows likely increased the influence of privileged participants who were already familiar with the policy discussions, leading to potential inequality of influence in the discussion and output of decisions which may have also impacted considered judgement.

Despite these limitations, internal evaluation done by the Shipyard Foundation indicates the process was highly effective. By the assembly's conclusion, 98% of participants felt they could comfortably express divergent views, and 77% believed their everyday experiences were as valuable as scientific expert knowledge in the policy-making process. (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.14,20). However, this is limited due to it being an internal evaluation, as potential institutional bias and perceived voice does not necessarily always translate into actual influence within the project. Despite that, this provides a feedback mechanism for participants which increases internal transparency because participants are able to express if they felt their views had any tangible impact.

The democratic good ‘popular control’ concerns itself with assessing how much influence citizens have over decision-making (Smith, 2009, p.22). Smith evaluates this against a four-stage model of the decision-making process, with these stages being “problem definition, option analysis, option selection and implementation” (Smith, 2009, p. 23).

Participants were unable to exert influence over problem definition because the organisers, following recommendations by experts, organised discussion around high costs, poor energy efficiency and low income (Brzozowska et al., 2022b, p.24).

There was greater popular control in the stage of option analysis. Participants asked experts 470 questions, hoping to better understand their evidence (Brzozowska et al., 2022b, p.10). This questioning can be seen as a form of public interrogation that Smith (2009, p.23) notes can often be avoided. Participants were able to request an additional talk on nuclear power (KNOCA, 2022). This illustrates that participants were able to select the ‘type of information they receive’ (Smith, 2009, p.23).

Control over option selection was more mixed. In the final recommendation process, experts proposed around 60 proposals with participants adding 60 additional proposals (Brzozowska et al., 2022b, p.24). The expert proposals had been amended by participants (KNOCA, 2022). Proposals were checked by the Shipyard Foundation and approved by experts and participants to become recommendations (Brzozowska et al., 2022b, p.24). Participants were able to shape the final recommendations, although this was tempered by the organisers and experts.

Implementation from the civic council was more limited. As of 2024, the citizens’ assembly did not lead to significant policy changes due to its disconnect from the government or parliament (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.39). This aligns with a common feature of democratic innovations because they rarely achieve a legislative impact (Smith, 2009, p.23). This lack of legislative impact was a trade-off as it sought to experiment with a new form of participation at the expense of direct policy impact (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.39). Overall, popular control was limited because although participants exerted influence over option analysis and selection, they had little control over problem definition and implementation.

For considered judgement, Smith defines this as where citizens move beyond raw preferences and private interests to reach informed, reflective assessments.This involves two critical dimensions: a technical understanding of the issue and an appreciation of the perspectives of other citizens, referred to as "enlarged mentality" (Smith, 2009, p.24). The Civic Council was effective at achieving this within its nationwide assembly but struggled to replicate this at the local level due to factors like time poverty.

Smith argues that considered judgement requires citizens to grasp technical details that are often unfamiliar (Ibid, p.12).The national assembly addressed this through the ‘education weekend’. This rigorous approach was seen to be successful from internal investigations, with 65% of participants reporting a measurable increase in their knowledge of energy poverty (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.16). However, this raises questions about whether self-reported learning is sufficient to meet Smith’s requirement of technically informed judgement. Smith emphasises not just exposure to information but the capacity to critically engage with it (Smith, 2009, p.24). Without evidence of how participants applied or challenged expert knowledge, the depth of this understanding remains uncertain. Additionally, while necessary for informed judgement, the massive amount of data presented a significant hurdle. Critical analysis from the sources suggests that this density might have overshadowed citizens' lived experiences, with some experts noting that specialist information occasionally determined the order of discussion too rigidly, potentially limiting the common sense wisdom alongside technical data (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.56).

The Council's effectiveness in achieving considered judgement was significantly lower at the local level. The local councils only lasted a few hours meaning many participants were still in the phase of learning what energy poverty was, making it difficult to translate their values into specific policy solutions (Brzozowska et al, 2022a, p.26).This was compounded by a lack of representative meaning the presence of others was demographically incomplete. Without a true microcosm, considered judgement was reduced.

For enlarged mentality, Smith defines it as requiring the presence of others to allow participants to imaginatively place themselves in different social positions (Smith, 2009, p.24-25).To foster Smith's enlarged mentality, the Council used group rotations, ensuring participants encountered a wide variety of viewpoints. (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.14). A key method for neutralizing individual bias was the use of ‘personae’ which were profiles representing typical people affected by energy poverty (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.16). This allowed participants to put themselves in other people’s shoes, a critical component for fostering an enlarged mentality. Although, this does not necessarily indicate the development of an enlarged mentality. Opinion change could result from factors like persuasion and conformity rather than genuine perspective-taking. A stronger indicator would be evidence that participants could articulate and justify positions from viewpoints other than their own. Furthermore, the demographic imbalances will also constrain enlarged mentality as exposure to diverse perspectives is not merely about numbers of people but about encountering conflicting views (Smith, 2009, p.24). The absence of key groups will narrow the range of perspectives available, thereby limiting participants' enlarged mentality.

Transparency concerns itself with an internal aspect: it must be open to participants about how issues have been selected, and an external aspect: the general public must understand how participation operates (Smith, 2009, pp. 25-26).

The civic council partially achieved internal transparency as organisers were open that the process had no links to the government and its aim was to improve public debate (KNOCA, 2022). However, the sources are unclear on whether participants understood the extent of the experts' influence on how issues were selected or the overall structure of discussion. This means the assembly participants may not know how an issue was selected, which Smith (2009, p. 25) sees as key to transparency.

The civic council was mostly successful at achieving external transparency. The organisers provided the rules of procedure and the contributions of experts on their website (KNOCA, 2022, ensuring the public can assess the assembly as being legitimate (Smith, 2009, p.26). The media were invited to attend every session (KNOCA, 2022), crucial to what Smith (2009, p. 25) calls ‘publicity’. By March 2023, one-third of the Polish population had heard about the citizen assembly (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.5). However, while the citizens' assembly was largely effective at achieving external transparency, it was not reported by the media favouring the governing party, limiting the spread of information among a polarised population. This limited reach to government supporting citizens prevents them from assessing whether the recommendations were legitimate which is crucial for external transparency (Smith, 2009, p. 25-26). The council achieved external transparency more effectively than internal, although polarised media coverage limited its reach.

‘Efficiency’ assesses whether a democratic innovation places an unacceptable burden on citizens while weighing up the costs and benefits of implementation (Smith, 2009, p.26).

The organisers made allowances to ensure that participation did not place an unacceptable burden on participants. Local councils chose shorter sessions to ensure the time burden was not excessive (Brzozowska et al., 2022a, p. 15). This necessitated a trade-off with considered judgement, with participants and organisers noting that the shorter discussion time meant that issues couldn’t be discussed in great depth (Brzozowska et al., 2022a, p. 15). Participant retention was high, with all participants who came to the first weekend of the national assembly there at the end of the process due to recognising the importance of the discussion (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.14). This shows that the organisers successfully ensured that participation did not constitute an unacceptable burden on participants.

Additionally, Smith (2009, p.26) notes that it must be factored into the costs of not organising the civic council. It could be argued that it was not worth the €195,000 cost of organising the civic council due to the lack of legislative impact (KNOCA, 2022). This cost would not have been incurred if the government had passed a law. Despite its limited legislative impact, the participants noted that the assembly improved their knowledge and understanding of different perspectives (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.10). The council helped to ensure greater public discussion about energy poverty (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.5). Smith (2009, p.26) argues that the acceptable costs depend on local circumstances. One such circumstance is increasing polarisation in Poland since 2001 (Smoczyński, 2024). In this context of political polarisation, the greater understanding between citizens generated by the council could contribute to diffusing tensions, which can partially outweigh the limited legislative impact. The civic council largely achieved efficiency as presented by Smith, although this required trade-offs regarding considered judgement.

Smith defines transferability as a design’s ability to operate effectively across different scales, political systems, and issue types (Smith, 2009, p.26-27). The civic council proved somewhat effective by successfully scaling deliberative methods from local meetings to Poland’s first nationwide citizens’ assembly. However, transferability requires that democratic goods are preserved across contexts, and as earlier analysis of the considered judgement suggests, the quality of deliberation declined significantly at the local level due to time constraints, indicating that the model was able to scale but not evenly. On the other hand, the initiative demonstrated versatility across issues. Building on Shipyard’s previous deliberations concerning education (Brzozowska et al, 2022b, p.37), this framework was adapted for energy poverty and has since been transferred to local consultations on water management in 2023 (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.66) showing it can be transferred across issues. However, these issues may not constitute a sufficient test of transferability as all three involve long-term public goods and relatively low political polarisation. Fulfilling Smith’s criteria beyond a doubt would require evidence the model can function under more adversarial issues, like taxation or immigration, where consensus-building is more difficult.

Additionally, the NGO-led structure raises a big challenge for transferability as its success may depend on a supportive civil society, which may not be easily replicated elsewhere. In political systems with weaker NGOs or more centralized authority may prevent similar initiatives from influencing policy, which suggests limited transferability beyond comparable political contexts. However, the Council served as a successful pilot project, establishing a reusable methodology and "dictionary" for describing complex social problems (Szczurek et al, 2024, p.6).

For improving the democratic innovation, there should be more deliberation time at the local level as this would improve considered and informed judgement, this would hamper efficiency however, participants voiced the desire for more time to discuss and define the issues of energy poverty. Additionally, internal transparency could be improved by the organisers being more open about the influence experts exerted on the definition of the issue. Finally, the innovation should aim to be more representative, especially of minority groups, in the civic councils as this would improve both considered judgement and inclusiveness.

See Also

References

Brzozowska, Maria Belina , et al. (2022a)Civic Council on Energy Costs: Summary, Shipyard Foundation, p.1-38. Available at: ReportCiviccouncilonenergycostslocalcouncilsShipyardFoundation.pdf (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Gąsiorowska, Adela. “Understanding the Policy Impact of Citizens’ Assemblies: A Dispatch from Gdansk | Deliberative Democracy Digest.” Publicdeliberation.net, 2023, www.publicdeliberation.net/understanding-the-policy-impact-of-citizens-assemblies-a-dispatch-from-gdansk/. (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

“Poland - Countries & Regions.” IEA, 2024, www.iea.org/countries/poland/energy-mix. (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Bernhard, Michael. “Democratic Backsliding in Poland and Hungary.” Slavic Review, vol. 80, no. 3, 2021, pp. 585–607. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27289815. (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Smoczyński, Wawrzyniec. “Poles: More Polarized than Americans .” The New Community Foundation , 8 June 2024, www.ncf.org.pl/milestones/poles-deeply-polarized-but-craving-for-community. (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Brzozowska, Maria Belina , et al.(2022b) Conclusion of the Nationwide Citizens Assembly on Energy Costs . Shipyard Foundation ,p.1-44. Available at: https://naradaoenergii.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/podsumowanieen.pdf (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Szczurek, Agnieszka , et al.(2024) Civic Council on Energy Costs in Poland (2022). Impact Assessment Report . Evaluation Centre , p.1-80. Available at: https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65b77644e6021e9021de8916/67b5a33177fc8679a6393d47_PL_OE_Energy%20poverty_impact%20study_report_2024.pdf (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

Smith, Graham. Democratic Innovations : Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2009, pp. 8–29.

KNOCA (2022) Polish Citizens’ Assembly on Energy Poverty. Available at: ​Polish Citizens’ Assembly on Energy Poverty - National Assembly (Accessed 29 Apr. 2026).

External Links

Notes

Contributor Positionality Statements