Across the globe, democracy itself is under fire. Rampant distrust in government, our institutions and political systems is giving rise to new, alternative forms of governance – emerging concepts such as citizens’ assemblies and quadratic voting – designed to shift political and legislative power to new democratic institutions anchored in citizen participation. This session will explore real-world examples of such models, diving deep into the pros and cons, successes and failures, that for better or worse, have the potential to re-fashion democracy as we know it.