Citizens Foundation

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The Citizens Foundation[1] is a non-profit organization based in Reykjavík, Iceland, and founded under Icelandic law[2][3] to promote electronic collaborative democracy around the globe and to develop the software needed for that purpose.[4] The organization got its start when citizens were asked to crowdsource their constitution in 2010.[5] In 2013 the foundation created the award-winning platform Better Reykjavík in collaboration with the Best party.[6][7]

History

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Its formation can be traced back to the Icelandic financial crash in 2008 when development of the software started although the Foundation itself wasn't formally founded until 2010.[citation needed] The main focus has been on developing a web based democracy tool called Open Active Democracy (OAD)[8][non-primary source needed] which it uses for its democracy building projects which are: Better Reykjavík,[9][non-primary source needed] Shadow Parliament[10][non-primary source needed] (Iceland only) and the international project Your Priorities.[11][non-primary source needed]

Projects

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Shadow Parliament (Skuggaþing) opened formally in February 2010,[12] imports all proposals from the Icelandic Parliament (Alþingi)[13] and enables citizens to choose which proposals they support or oppose as well as allowing them to put forward their own proposals. The system received acclaim from the Icelandic blogosphere[14][15] and over 2,000 citizens took part in using the system,[16] including by individual members of the Parliament.[17][18][19][20]

A few months later, on 25 May 2010, the website Shadow City (Skuggaborg) opened, a few days before the municipal elections in Icelands capital, Reykjavík with all parties running in the election given their own section for promotion and usage.[21] The website was received with acclaim by the Best Party whose supporters used it extensively for their proposals and ideas.[22] The Best Party won the elections[23] and started majority negotiations with the Social Democratic Alliance. The parties asked the founders of Skuggaborg to create a special area on the website called Better Reykjavík for the citizens to help them create a majority agreement.[24][25][26] In 3 days the number of users had reached almost 3.000 with over 400 ideas and 873 points for and against those ideas.[27] One news site referred to this as "A flood of ideas about a Better Reykjavík".[28] In their majority agreement the parties said: The website Better Reykjavík will be used as support in decision making and policy formulation[29] and the city has been working with the Citizens Foundation in opening a new and improved version of Better Reykjavík that will be used as an integral part of the city's governance.

This success prompted the Young Social Democrats (the youth movement related to the Social Democratic Alliance) to challenge the government to implement a similar system for the country.[30]

Some of the ideas from Better Reykjavík have already been put into practice, one of them is a proposal to keep one swimmingpool open 24/7 for 1–2 months in the summer.[31] This was realized two months after the election in the biggest swimmingpool in Reykjavík, Laugardalslaugin[32] although the pool was only open continuously for a week.

After Better Reykjavík the Citizens Foundation team, Róbert Bjarnason, Gunnar Grímsson and Óskar J. Sandholt started focusing on the Foundation's international effort, Your Priorities, which includes a website like Better Reykjavík for every country in the world, free of charge.[33][non-primary source needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Non-profit electronic democracy. Citizens.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  2. ^ > Fyrirtækjaskrá > Þjónusta > Leit í fyrirtækjaskrá. www.rsk.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). ibuar.is. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 May 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Scully, Jess (11 August 2020). "There are new ways to do democracy that give me hope. More voices could change everything". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  5. ^ Lironi, Elisa (28 November 2018). "Harnessing Digital Tools to Revitalize European Democracy". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  6. ^ Topping, Alexandra (25 April 2013). "Reykjavík's radical mayor blazes a trail for the revolution in digital democracy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  7. ^ "Renewing U.S. Political Representation: Lessons From Europe and U.S. History". Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. 12 March 2018. Retrieved 2 September 2025.
  8. ^ rbjarnason/open-active-democracy. GitHub. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  9. ^ Betri Reykjavík. Betrireykjavik.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  10. ^ Skuggaþing Archived 27 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Skuggathing.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  11. ^ Uw prioriteiten Welcome Archived 16 April 2013 at archive.today. Yrpri.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  12. ^ Vísir – Skuggaþing opnað Archived 23 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Visir.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  13. ^ Alţingi. Althingi.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  14. ^ Skuggaþing « Silfur Egils. Silfuregils.eyjan.is (14 February 2010). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  15. ^ » Skuggaþing – góð viðbót í umræðuna – Gísli Baldvinsson. Blog.eyjan.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  16. ^ Hittu áhrifamesta fólkið hjá Skuggaþing Archived 13 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Skuggathing.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  17. ^ Birgitta Jonsdottir hjá Skuggaþing Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Skuggathing.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  18. ^ Alþingi – Æviágrip: Birgitta Jónsdóttir. Althingi.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  19. ^ Margrét Tryggvadóttir hjá Skuggaþing Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Skuggathing.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  20. ^ Alþingi – Æviágrip: Margrét Tryggvadóttir. Althingi.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  21. ^ Skuggaborg – Hugmyndavefur fyrir Reykjavík | Svipan Archived 19 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Svipan.is (28 May 2010). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  22. ^ Skoðanaskipti í Skuggaborg. mbl.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  23. ^ (in Icelandic) Reykjavíkurborg | Höfuðborgarsvæðið | Sveitarfélög / kjördæmi | Kosningavefur Dómsmála- og Mannréttindaráðuneytisins | Reykjavíkurborg | Höfuðborgarsvæðið | Sveitarfélög – úrslit | Sveitarstjórnarkosningar | Kosningavefur innanríkisráðuneytisins Archived 21 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Kosning.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  24. ^ Besti Flokkurinn – Pólítískt Partí | Leynifundir og Betri Reykjavík Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Bestiflokkurinn.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  25. ^ Fréttir – Beint lýðræði í betri Reykjavík Archived 14 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. DV.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  26. ^ "Auglýst eftir stefnumálum". Archived from the original on 8 June 2010. Retrieved 16 September 2011.
  27. ^ Skoðanaskipti í Skuggaborg. mbl.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  28. ^ Flóð hugmynda um Betri Reykjavík « Eyjan. Eyjan.is (25 February 2010). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  29. ^ Besti Flokkurinn – Pólítískt Partí | Samstarfsyfirlýsing Besta flokksins og Samfylkingarinnar Archived 17 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Bestiflokkurinn.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  30. ^ Vefur Ungra jafnaðarmanna. Politik.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  31. ^ Efstu rök – Betri Reykjavík Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine. BetriReykjavík.is. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  32. ^ Nætursund í Laugardalslaug. mbl.is (20 July 2010). Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  33. ^ Uw prioriteiten Welcome. Yrpri.org. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
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