Also: Making Citizenship Local, Proactive Localism; On to Cascais
Welcome to the monthly newsletter of Democracy Local, a planetary publication of stories, ideas, data, scholarship, and events about everyday people governing themselves.
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MAKE YOUR LOCALISM PROACTIVE
Fed up with your national government? So is the rest of the world. And its local governments.
Recent weeks have seen cities, towns and metro regions around the world decide to take more power and responsibility into their own hands. No more reacting to national trends, or waiting for higher authorities to decide. Locals are stepping into shape the future of tech, global health, climate, and human rights.
The name for this trend? “Proactive localism.”
That phrase come close to encompassing the Bloomberg City Lab Summit That Madrid in late April. There, mayors of cities including London, Tokyo, Nairobi, and Buenos Aires announced a new coalition, the Mayors AI Forum.
Local leaders argue that while national governments write regulations, the “real world” impact of AI—from workforce displacement to the delivery of social services—happens on city streets. Which is why city and metro governments design AI standards to meet lived realities and community needs. Mayors indicated a desire to co-design with AI companies, but they won’t be waiting.
The kids aren’t waiting either. The Bloomberg conference highlighted pilot cities (notably Masaka, Uganda) where young people, ages 15 to 24, are designing their climate projects. Bloomberg Philanthropies are expanding the Youth Climate Action Fund to 300 city halls worldwide.
Localities are also seizing power in theaters of war. Nowhere is that more common than in Ukrainian cities.
With national elections cancelled during the Russian invasion, localities are ramping up democratic participation. The city of Rivne, concluded a major citizens assembly on April 26. The body produced 20 proposals for retaining young people and boosting business innovation, even amidst the conflict.
But it is in the digital world where local governments are acting most aggressively, and ahead of their nations. South African communities are seizing on provisions in a national bill to declare themselves non-profit entities and build and manage their own internet infrastructure. Similarly, in Columbian cities, community-lead initiatives are taking control of radio spectrums for communication.
LETTERS FOR THE FUTURE:
In related news, the United Cities and Local Governments is two weeks into its “100 Days of Multilateralism” campaign, ending July 31.
The goal is to force a structural shift in global governance—moving from a world where local officials are “invited guests” at the UN to one where they are permanent, formal partners in the multilateral system.
The 100 days have already seen a strategic cooperation agreement with the International Association of Public Transportation, and a push to update the three dozen local rights in the New Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City. There’s also a “No Services Without Workers” initiative focusing on the local workers—garbage collectors, nurses, and bus drivers—who keep the “global system” running.
But the most intriguing piece of the campaign is called “Letters For the Future.”
There are 8 letters, each on a different subject, available online. And they aren’t art pieces. They are live letters—you can read them online here (be sure to scroll down)—between local governments and civil society, with additions being made online during these 100 days of gatherings.
Here are some highlights of each letter.
• Letter on Climate Justice says that localities should receive financing and funding for climate work without national middlemen.
• Letter on “The New Essentials” says that public services including Internet, energy, water, and trash should be managed as commons, with everyday people involved, rather than as commodities.
• Letter on Local Finance calls for a Global Municipal Bank or a planetary local bond market to boost local financial capacity worldwide.
• The Letter on Housing says housing must be treated as a universal right, not a market-based infrastructure, with public housing as part of a renewed global social contract.
• The Letter on Food Systems and Zero Hunger positions local governments as possessing “food sovereignty” and proposes “territorial food systems” linking local urban consumers directly with regional small-scale farmers to bypass global supply chain shocks.
• The Letter on Conflict Prevention redefines peace as the preservation of locl democratic resilience,” demands the protection of local leaders in conflict zones, and urges cities to take the lead in diplomacy as nations retreat from collaboration.
• The Letter on Health for All shifts focus from hospitals and institutionalized health care to health creation policies including cleaner air, water access, and mental health provision at the neighborhood level.
• The Letter on Cultural Rights frames access to knowledge, digital heritage, and local languages as democratic infrastructure that prevents the rise of extremism and polarization.
The letters should get more attention at two upcoming events. At the World Human Rights Cities Forum May 13-15 in Gwangju, South Korea, is expected to focus on how local governments can shield democratic values when national governments slip into authoritarianism.
At the World Urban Forum, to be held May 17-22 in Baku Azerbaijan, local leaders will be pushing for a formal UN Advisory Committee of Local Authorities to be made permanent.
SHOULD NATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BE DECIDED LOCALLY?
Authoritarians often gain control and create conflict by stripping minority groups of citizenship. For example, President Trump is proposing to end birthright citizenship and strip naturalized citizens of citizenship in the U.S.
One way to counter that would be to make the determination of citizenship a local responsibility.
This is not just political—it’s practical. Local communities know their own residents best—and thus are best positioned to decide on who merits citizenship.
As a result of global debates over citizenship, attention is turning to Switzerland There, you don’t technically apply for “Swiss” citizenship first. Instead, you apply for citizenship in your commune—your local jurisdiction. This concept is enshrined in Article 37 of the Swiss Constitution, “Swiss citizens are citizens of their municipality of origin and their canton of origin.”
The local commune is the primary gatekeeper. If your neighbors or local council reject your application, the federal government generally cannot override them.
Historically, many Swiss communes held public town-hall votes where residents would literally raise their hands to vote on whether to grant a neighbor citizenship. While the Swiss Supreme Court has curtailed “anonymous” voting (to prevent discrimination without stated reasons), many communes still use local citizens’ committees to conduct the final interviews and make the decision.
Liechtenstein takes popular decisions on citizenship a step further. There, citizenship is decided by a direct vote of your neighbors.
You read that right. To become a citizen of Liechtenstein, your application is put to a vote in your municipality. It can be hard to win a popular vote, so many peope wait 30 years for a different path that bypasses a local vote.
Then there’s the ccase of the Åland Islands, an autonomous, Swedish-speaking region of Finland. They have a unique status called Hembygdsrätt (Right of Domicile), which functions as a “regional citizenship,” decided by Aland’s government
Then there’s Japan, where the concept of citizenship is deeply tied to the local municipality through the Koseki (Family Registry).
Every Japanese citizen is registered in a specific municipality (Honseki-chi). Your local city hall manages the record that proves you are a citizen. The locality doesn’t officially grant citizenship—the national justice ministry handles that—but the process is local.
WATCHING
At Harvard, Mayors Dada Morero of Johannesburg, South Africa, Regina Romero of Tucson, and Justin Wilson of Alexandria, Virginia, discussed the new pressures on cities since national governments no longer act. Morero illustrated how climate inequality looks at the street level, with dramatic differences in her city between affluent suburbs and heat-vulnerable townships.
In Graz, Austria, a “Human Rights Go Local” conference dug deep into city-based rights.
Progressive International’s David Adler offered a keynote at the 2026 Progress Summit in Ottawa that is worth your time. He discussed how local municipal wins in places like Toronto and Montreal are creating a “broad progressive front” that can actually withstand national-level authoritarian trends.
LISTENING PLEASURE:
It Takes a City is a podcast about participatory democracy, created by Flavio Proietti Pantosti and Stefania Kapronczay.
READINGS
Do you want your own “super city”? A New Zealand plan for consolidating local governments deserves more attention.
Chile-based political scientist David Altman’s must-read new paper shows how direct democracy will accelerate direct democracy—and then destroy it.
Is heaven governed well? Global democracy maven M. Dane Waters has a new novel, The Sunday Shift.
Geneva canceled a citizens’ assembly. Is this deliberative tool losing its appeal?
Demnext on deliberative democracy in Africa.
The case for a democratic stack.
What will democracy look like in the West Balkans in 2040?
The National Civic League (U.S.) says it “is joining forces with Local Policy Lab and Spread the Vote to help build the next chapter of American democracy. Together with our existing programs, Civic Genius and the Center for Democracy Innovation, the League will become a more comprehensive organization to help strengthen democracy in communities nationwide.” Read more.
EVENTS
May 11-12. ACT NOW Mayors Conference, Cascais, Portugal
May 13-15. World Human Rights Cities Forum. Gwangju, South Korea
May 17-22. World Urban Forum—UN Habitat, Baku, Azerbaijan
June 4-7. US Conference of Mayors. Long Beach, California
June 23-26. United Cities and Local Governments World Congress. Tangier, Morocco
September 21-23, International Observatory of Participatory Democracy. Krakow, Poland
October 6-10, The 2026 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy. Gaborone, Botswana
October 12-13. UN Forum of Mayors. Geneva Switzerland.
ASIA DEMOCRACY CHRONICLES
There’s a reliable way to prevent conflict between elephants and local people. So why aren’t Sri Lankan local governments employing it?
In Sumatra, local residents who protected forests are not receiving the financial benefits.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS BRUNO?
Our intrepid democracy supporter-and-reporter made it to Budapest, Hungary, and Karpachevo, Bulgaria, where he saw signs of profound shifts, driven by local activists and governments.
COLUMNS FROM CALIFORNIA AND ELSEWHERE
Los Angeles can’t be reformed. It needs a re-founding—and a whole new concept of the city.
Blindfolds help us see! A novel type of deliberative convening is succeeding in Los Angeles—and exposing how conflicts between groups are often rooted in problems within groups. Read more about the creative assemblies of Gabriel Kahan.
So sorry, America, that California and its local governments are slow to count ballots.
The Chuck Norris trucker movie that explains local governance—and the right of revolution.
California moves pretty fast—except in governance reform, where big changes take 100 years.
LOCAL SNAPSHOTS
Our Q&A with America’s most popular and ambitious mayor, Oklahoma City’s David Holt, who is president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors
Mexico City’s mayor-governor Clara Brugada offers a vision of a democratic city that gives its best to the poor.
NEWS ABOUT DEMOCRACY LOCAL.
We announced a new regional partnership with CONSUL Democracy.
DEMOCRACY TYPE OF THE MONTH
“Algorithmic Democracy,” central to the work of Domingo García-Marzá, is the idea that AI can support “procedural legitimacy” and make democratic processes fairer. The loser’s test is central to this: those who lose a vote still trust the outcome. Related is “algorithmic sovereignty,” the idea—popular among mayors—that local government can own, understand and override algorithms used in city governance.
DEMOCRACY QUOTES OF THE MONTH
“When states fail, cities become shelters. Democracy is lived daily, in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our spaces of expression and culture.” — Jean-Luc Romero, Deputy Mayor of Paris
“Democracy belongs to the people. And as long as cities stand together and refuse to look away, authoritarianism will not prevail.” — Mathias De Clercq, Mayor of Ghent
SUGGESTED LINKS TO DEMOCRACY LOCAL RESOURCES AND PARTNERS
International Democracy Community
University College London Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.
Federation for Innovation in Democracy-Europe and FIDE North America
United Cities and Local Governments
International Observatory of Participatory Democracy
ASU Participatory Governance Initiative
Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
National Civic League’s Center for Democracy Innovation
Journal of Deliberative Democracy
Local Government Information Unit
The Future of Where
Global Citizens’ Assembly Network (GloCAN),
newDemocracy Foundation (Australia)
National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation
University of Canberra (Australia)
Global Democracy Coalition newsletter
