#77 - Yves Dejaeghere - The courage to choose

In this episode, we speak with Yves Dejaeghere, executive director of the Federation for Innovation in Democracy in Europe, and one of the architects of what may be the world's most advanced permanent citizens' council, in the German-speaking region of Belgium. Yves is a realist rather than an evangelist, and that is what makes this such a clear-eyed conversation. He is candid that a citizens' assembly cannot, on its own, solve housing – because housing, in his view, is not a knowledge problem but a political one, where existing owners will not vote to reduce the value of their own homes. What these processes can do, he argues, is drag arguments that usually happen behind closed doors out into the open, and give politicians the cover to do what they quietly know is right. We talk about why doing the sensible thing is so often politically irrational, how a small and determined minority can hold an entire reform hostage even when most people quietly agree, and why he is wary of handing too much of democracy over to artificial intelligence. We'd like to thank Yves for taking the time to speak with us for this episode. And don't forget to subscribe to the CHA Hub Podcast – wherever you get your podcasts from. The CHA Hub Podcast is sponsored by our Founding Partner, Westpac New Zealand.