Revitalized democracy for resilient societies
Within the REDRESS project, we investigate how hybrid democratic innovations, which are combinations of deliberation and voting, can strengthen Dutch representative democracy.


Hybrid Democratic Innovations
How can ‘hybrid democratic innovations’, which combine forms of deliberation (such as citizens’ assemblies) and voting (such as corrective referendums), strengthen representative democracy? That is the core question of the ‘Revitalized Democracy for Resilient Societies’ (REDRESS) project, for which partners and the NWO have made a total of €2 million available in the context of the Dutch Research Agenda (NWA) for the period from June 2021 – June 2026.
Our research

Deliberation,
in combination with …

… forms of voting

Strengthening representative democracy

Mixed methods research
Our partners
Latest news
First REDRESS consortium meeting
After the online kick-off event in December, the first real-life consortium meeting took place on Friday 3 June. In the Lochal in Tilburg, Frank Hendriks recalled the idea of a hybrid democratic innovation with two examples: the Irish citizens' assembly and participatory budgeting in Antwerp (see images). After the
Increasing politician’s listening skills
Our democracy is suffering from a long due overhaul. Besides the frequent call for more countervailing power, there is a growing demand for new forms of citizen participation to resolve complex and long-running dossiers such as climate change, the housing shortage and escalating healthcare costs. As part of his
Exchange with research group UGent
On Friday 20 May, the REDRESS team visited colleagues at Ghent University who are working on a research project on participatory local government in Belgium. Their focus is on the following questions: Are the roles of local politicians, citizens, civil servants and civil society organisations changing? Are the relations