Can Democratic Innovation Work in an Unfavourable Context? Assessing the Effectiveness of the First Hungarian Local Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Policy

In September 2020, the first Hungarian Citizens’ Assembly on Climate Policy (CACP) was organized by the new Mayor of Budapest. Undertaking an explorative research design, this chapter contributes to a better understanding on how an illiberal political context may affect the organisation and effectiveness of climate assemblies. In Hungary, the past decade of illiberal politics has led to reduced citizen activism and shrinking spaces for policy participation. Moreover, environmental politics has been dismantled (Hungary is the only EU member state without a Ministry of Environment), public attitudes are materialistic, and green values are weak. However, the CACP was a success in terms of organisation, outputs, and evaluation by participants. As researchers, we assumed that the unfavourable conditions set by the illiberal political context would affect its organisation, development, and potential social and political impact. Such effects were studied along both external and internal dimensions. Wider social impact was assessed through the media coverage of the event; the policy impact was evaluated through the quality of policy recommendations as well as the openness of the City Council to integrate and implement them; and the attitudes of the participants were studied through a pre- and post- survey. Our findings indicate that the illiberal political context influenced the organisation of the Budapest CACP; for example, the pre-assembly dropout rate (22%) can be considered as a sign of shying away from participating in the event. Only independent media or media related to the opposition covered the event and the media close to the government was silent. In terms of policy making, the recommendations of the event did not generate original ideas compared to the ‘business as usual’ of environmental protection; and they did not require sacrifices or radical behavioural changes from citizens or institutions. Regarding the impact of the event on the participants’ attitudes concerning environmental issues, we found that participants felt more informed about those issues after the event. The chapter concludes with reflections on the prospects for democratic innovations such as climate assemblies in illiberal political contexts.