2025 Volume 34 Pages 72-79
This paper focuses on random civic participation, known as mini-publics, and examines its significance and challenges as civic education. In Japan, various mini-publics have been conducted in the past, including deliberative polls. But in recent years, climate assemblies and citizen councils are being held, and they have also the goal of encouraging people to think of issues as personal problems. Therefore, it can be said that mini-publics have strengthened their character as a civic education. However, the number of participants in the mini-publics is limited to a very small percentage of the total number of residents. In addition, it is not enough to arouse an individual's willingness for participants of mini-publics. In the future, we will need to design the program in a way that encourages people to think of issues as ourselves problem, and to foster citizenship among more people by introducing digital technology, for example.
