Hugh Pope
@hughpope.bsky.social
Writer on deliberative democracy, Turkey, the Middle East & Central Asia. Love to review books.
Some of the new trends in deliberative democracy as seen at the annual Democracy R&D conference, just held this year in Brussels.
It was colourful and fun. And innovations like citizens' assemblies might just help get us some better government.
hughpope.com/2025/11/10/g...
It was colourful and fun. And innovations like citizens' assemblies might just help get us some better government.
hughpope.com/2025/11/10/g...
Governments are floundering. Can citizens’ assemblies help?
People feel hopeless at the state of our elected governments. But here’s news from the frontline of deliberative democracy activists who are finding another way to run our countries better.
hughpope.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Some of the new trends in deliberative democracy as seen at the annual Democracy R&D conference, just held this year in Brussels.
It was colourful and fun. And innovations like citizens' assemblies might just help get us some better government.
hughpope.com/2025/11/10/g...
It was colourful and fun. And innovations like citizens' assemblies might just help get us some better government.
hughpope.com/2025/11/10/g...
A stylish masterclass from @rizahmed.bsky.social on why we need to replace elected politicians with groups of citizens chosen by lot.
So great to see fame and wit selflessly used for a good idea.
Thank you too to interviewer Kareem Rahma & his
@subwaytakes.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/M7oTO...
So great to see fame and wit selflessly used for a good idea.
Thank you too to interviewer Kareem Rahma & his
@subwaytakes.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/M7oTO...
We need to stop having all election and elect leaders through a random lottery!! Feat Riz Ahmed
YouTube video by SubwayTakes with Kareem Rahma
youtube.com
September 2, 2025 at 1:10 PM
A stylish masterclass from @rizahmed.bsky.social on why we need to replace elected politicians with groups of citizens chosen by lot.
So great to see fame and wit selflessly used for a good idea.
Thank you too to interviewer Kareem Rahma & his
@subwaytakes.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/M7oTO...
So great to see fame and wit selflessly used for a good idea.
Thank you too to interviewer Kareem Rahma & his
@subwaytakes.bsky.social
youtube.com/shorts/M7oTO...
It's been 20 years since we built a retreat on the flanks of Mount Olympos – the one on #Turkey's Mediterranean coast! – and I now finally did the exhilarating climb to the summit.
#lycianway #thelazyolive #hiking #longdistancetrails
#lycianway #thelazyolive #hiking #longdistancetrails
August 25, 2025 at 10:42 AM
It's been 20 years since we built a retreat on the flanks of Mount Olympos – the one on #Turkey's Mediterranean coast! – and I now finally did the exhilarating climb to the summit.
#lycianway #thelazyolive #hiking #longdistancetrails
#lycianway #thelazyolive #hiking #longdistancetrails
Another fine hike along the #LycianWay trail - next stop will be the peak of Mount Olympos (that's the one southwest of Antalya in Turkey).
#thelazyolive
youtu.be/wRyvi00hWB8
#thelazyolive
youtu.be/wRyvi00hWB8
Lazy Olive Walk #3 - Ulupınar-Beycik Circuit
YouTube video by Hugh Pope
youtu.be
August 14, 2025 at 8:26 AM
Another fine hike along the #LycianWay trail - next stop will be the peak of Mount Olympos (that's the one southwest of Antalya in Turkey).
#thelazyolive
youtu.be/wRyvi00hWB8
#thelazyolive
youtu.be/wRyvi00hWB8
Thoughts on why I felt okay about bidding a last goodbye to 43 years' worth of reporting notebooks.
In short: they were personal and I've used them all up.
Still, it wasn't easy putting such a core ingredient of my working life out on the street.
hughpope.com/2025/07/22/b...
In short: they were personal and I've used them all up.
Still, it wasn't easy putting such a core ingredient of my working life out on the street.
hughpope.com/2025/07/22/b...
Breaking up with my long-cherished notebooks
A farewell bow to my 43 years of reporting notebooks.
hughpope.com
July 22, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Thoughts on why I felt okay about bidding a last goodbye to 43 years' worth of reporting notebooks.
In short: they were personal and I've used them all up.
Still, it wasn't easy putting such a core ingredient of my working life out on the street.
hughpope.com/2025/07/22/b...
In short: they were personal and I've used them all up.
Still, it wasn't easy putting such a core ingredient of my working life out on the street.
hughpope.com/2025/07/22/b...
Reposted by Hugh Pope
"Taking part in this process has taught me that it helps to talk with people who think differently from me - and that we can find common ground.“
#CitizensAssembly
#CitizensAssembly
Norway's citizens want to share their fortune with future generations and the world
In this week's DemNext Deep Dive, Hugh Pope, DemocracyNext International Advisory Council Member, speaks with members and organisers of Norway's Future Assembly on the Oil Fund
substack.com
June 12, 2025 at 10:09 AM
"Taking part in this process has taught me that it helps to talk with people who think differently from me - and that we can find common ground.“
#CitizensAssembly
#CitizensAssembly
The unexpected moral wisdom that #Norway got when seven non-profits convened a citizens' assembly to deliberate on the future of their Oil Fund, the biggest investment fund in the world.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Norway's citizens want to share their fortune with future generations and the world
In this week's DemNext Deep Dive, Hugh Pope, DemocracyNext International Advisory Council Member, speaks with members and organisers of Norway's Future Assembly on the Oil Fund
substack.com
June 12, 2025 at 10:12 AM
The unexpected moral wisdom that #Norway got when seven non-profits convened a citizens' assembly to deliberate on the future of their Oil Fund, the biggest investment fund in the world.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Thanks Erin Ogunkeye & France24 TV for the chance to talk about how randomly selected citizens' assemblies can take on the important moral decisions of our time – for instance, paving the way for last week's move in France in lifting the ban on assisted dying.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAc...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAc...
France’s lower house approves assisted dying bill with 305 votes in favor • FRANCE 24 English
YouTube video by FRANCE 24 English
www.youtube.com
June 2, 2025 at 10:44 AM
Thanks Erin Ogunkeye & France24 TV for the chance to talk about how randomly selected citizens' assemblies can take on the important moral decisions of our time – for instance, paving the way for last week's move in France in lifting the ban on assisted dying.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAc...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYAc...
Reposted by Hugh Pope
Citizens' assemblies inch into the mainstream - @hughpope.bsky.social
rebootdemocracy.ai/newsthatcaug...
rebootdemocracy.ai/newsthatcaug...
RebootDemocracy.AI Blog | News That Caught Our Eye #57
In the news this week: Engagements with public professionals on AI – one from Dubai, one from New Jersey – showcase why to use AI to do more public listening. The White House's AI directives lack esse...
rebootdemocracy.ai
May 8, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Citizens' assemblies inch into the mainstream - @hughpope.bsky.social
rebootdemocracy.ai/newsthatcaug...
rebootdemocracy.ai/newsthatcaug...
A post to celebrate 'The Rest is Politics' podcast giving its seal of approval to citizens' assemblies as a way forward for democratic reform.
Thank you @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social & @rory-stewart.bsky.social and looking forward to hearing more.
hughpope.substack.com/p/citizens-a...
Thank you @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social & @rory-stewart.bsky.social and looking forward to hearing more.
hughpope.substack.com/p/citizens-a...
May 2, 2025 at 8:39 AM
A post to celebrate 'The Rest is Politics' podcast giving its seal of approval to citizens' assemblies as a way forward for democratic reform.
Thank you @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social & @rory-stewart.bsky.social and looking forward to hearing more.
hughpope.substack.com/p/citizens-a...
Thank you @alastaircampbell2.bsky.social & @rory-stewart.bsky.social and looking forward to hearing more.
hughpope.substack.com/p/citizens-a...
Reposted by Hugh Pope
Citizens’ assemblies have earned a significant new seal of approval.
The UK's top political podcast „The Rest is Politics“ stands out as a running indictment of electoral representation as a system of government, implicitly at least.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/citize...
#CitizensAssembly
The UK's top political podcast „The Rest is Politics“ stands out as a running indictment of electoral representation as a system of government, implicitly at least.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/citize...
#CitizensAssembly
April 29, 2025 at 8:42 AM
Citizens’ assemblies have earned a significant new seal of approval.
The UK's top political podcast „The Rest is Politics“ stands out as a running indictment of electoral representation as a system of government, implicitly at least.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/citize...
#CitizensAssembly
The UK's top political podcast „The Rest is Politics“ stands out as a running indictment of electoral representation as a system of government, implicitly at least.
www.linkedin.com/pulse/citize...
#CitizensAssembly
Great to see so many American friends this weekend demonstrating for their rights, rule of law and less partisan rule.
The last few months have lessons about what we in Europe should now be standing up for too.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
The last few months have lessons about what we in Europe should now be standing up for too.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
A fork in the road with my inner American
What will Europe standing on its own two feet really mean?
open.substack.com
April 7, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Great to see so many American friends this weekend demonstrating for their rights, rule of law and less partisan rule.
The last few months have lessons about what we in Europe should now be standing up for too.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
The last few months have lessons about what we in Europe should now be standing up for too.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
If you feel confused and upset about the news from Gaza, here's a book that offers a tried and tested antidote for at least the first half of that problem.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
A dose of old-school Palestinian history clarifies what's not new in Gaza
"The Hundred Years War on Palestine: a History of Settler Colonial Conquest and Resistance", by Rashid Khalidi
open.substack.com
March 25, 2025 at 10:45 AM
If you feel confused and upset about the news from Gaza, here's a book that offers a tried and tested antidote for at least the first half of that problem.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
A happy 2nd birthday post for my late father's posthumous book, The Keys to Democracy.
🙌For the publisher, it's a best seller
📣New endorsements keep coming in
📚Paperback due in Sept
Many thanks to all who helped a once-lost manuscript on its way!
hughpope.substack.com/p/to-be-or-n...
🙌For the publisher, it's a best seller
📣New endorsements keep coming in
📚Paperback due in Sept
Many thanks to all who helped a once-lost manuscript on its way!
hughpope.substack.com/p/to-be-or-n...
To be or not to be a bestseller
Maurice Pope's book The Keys to Democracy turns two years old
hughpope.substack.com
March 23, 2025 at 11:06 AM
A happy 2nd birthday post for my late father's posthumous book, The Keys to Democracy.
🙌For the publisher, it's a best seller
📣New endorsements keep coming in
📚Paperback due in Sept
Many thanks to all who helped a once-lost manuscript on its way!
hughpope.substack.com/p/to-be-or-n...
🙌For the publisher, it's a best seller
📣New endorsements keep coming in
📚Paperback due in Sept
Many thanks to all who helped a once-lost manuscript on its way!
hughpope.substack.com/p/to-be-or-n...
If you wonder why rich people dominate systems based on elections, listen to our podcast. The ancients were wise to the corruptions of representative democracy.
Athens had the antidote in its glory days – random selection. We can take it again today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF37...
Athens had the antidote in its glory days – random selection. We can take it again today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF37...
Sortition, ancient and modern (with Hugh Pope)
YouTube video by James Kierstead
www.youtube.com
February 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
If you wonder why rich people dominate systems based on elections, listen to our podcast. The ancients were wise to the corruptions of representative democracy.
Athens had the antidote in its glory days – random selection. We can take it again today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF37...
Athens had the antidote in its glory days – random selection. We can take it again today.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF37...
“Enjoyable”, “idiosyncratic” & “broadly right” - a lovely and important review of my late Dad Maurice Pope's book The Keys to Democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
“Enjoyable”, “idiosyncratic” & “broadly right”
A lovely review of Maurice Pope's The Keys to Democracy in the journal Polis
open.substack.com
January 28, 2025 at 9:41 PM
“Enjoyable”, “idiosyncratic” & “broadly right” - a lovely and important review of my late Dad Maurice Pope's book The Keys to Democracy.
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
For all Sherlock Holmes fans out there - and anyone interested in an inspired portrait of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II in real fictional life – my (glowing) review of Andrew Finkel's debut novel.
#Constantinople #SherlockHolmes #DrWatson #mystery #Turkey
hughpope.com/2025/01/27/s...
#Constantinople #SherlockHolmes #DrWatson #mystery #Turkey
hughpope.com/2025/01/27/s...
Sherlock Holmes’ adventure by the Bosphorus
Review by Hugh Pope of Andrew Finkel’s excellent debut novel The Adventure of the Second Wife: The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and the Ottoman Sultan.
hughpope.com
January 27, 2025 at 3:23 PM
For all Sherlock Holmes fans out there - and anyone interested in an inspired portrait of Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II in real fictional life – my (glowing) review of Andrew Finkel's debut novel.
#Constantinople #SherlockHolmes #DrWatson #mystery #Turkey
hughpope.com/2025/01/27/s...
#Constantinople #SherlockHolmes #DrWatson #mystery #Turkey
hughpope.com/2025/01/27/s...
Great to see a debate starting in the US over constitutional renewal and the idea of proportional representation being "a fix" for their crisis in governance.
Taking a leaf from my late Dad's book The Keys to Democracy, I put the arguments for going much further here.
hughpope.com/2025/01/16/p...
Taking a leaf from my late Dad's book The Keys to Democracy, I put the arguments for going much further here.
hughpope.com/2025/01/16/p...
Proportional representation: a cure for democratic ills, or a distracting red herring?
If better representation brings better government, then random selection has more potential to do the job.
hughpope.com
January 16, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Great to see a debate starting in the US over constitutional renewal and the idea of proportional representation being "a fix" for their crisis in governance.
Taking a leaf from my late Dad's book The Keys to Democracy, I put the arguments for going much further here.
hughpope.com/2025/01/16/p...
Taking a leaf from my late Dad's book The Keys to Democracy, I put the arguments for going much further here.
hughpope.com/2025/01/16/p...
For anyone out there heading to Davos for the first time ... or if you're just interested in what it's like to be a hanger-on to the rich and powerful.
hughpope.com/2016/01/19/d...
hughpope.com/2016/01/19/d...
Davos for Beginners
How to survive attending Davos without a participants’ badge – and what this summit of the global one per cents really feels like.
hughpope.com
January 10, 2025 at 11:13 AM
For anyone out there heading to Davos for the first time ... or if you're just interested in what it's like to be a hanger-on to the rich and powerful.
hughpope.com/2016/01/19/d...
hughpope.com/2016/01/19/d...
Many people in Europe and in my politically paralysed home country Belgium can see what's going wrong.
But is the way to put it right really to fantasize about a return to the old two-party electoral system that got us here in the first place?
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
But is the way to put it right really to fantasize about a return to the old two-party electoral system that got us here in the first place?
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
Inbox | Substack
open.substack.com
January 7, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Many people in Europe and in my politically paralysed home country Belgium can see what's going wrong.
But is the way to put it right really to fantasize about a return to the old two-party electoral system that got us here in the first place?
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
But is the way to put it right really to fantasize about a return to the old two-party electoral system that got us here in the first place?
open.substack.com/pub/hughpope...
It started with good intentions. Trust was misplaced. Then came abdication of responsibility.
For a taste of just how much big tech companies have now taken over our lives and governments, see my interview with @marietjeschaake.bsky.social for DemocracyNext.
demnext.substack.com/p/ending-big...
For a taste of just how much big tech companies have now taken over our lives and governments, see my interview with @marietjeschaake.bsky.social for DemocracyNext.
demnext.substack.com/p/ending-big...
📕 Ending big tech companies’ capture of government
Hugh Pope interviews Marietje Schaake about her new book 'The Tech Coup'
demnext.substack.com
December 10, 2024 at 11:33 AM
It started with good intentions. Trust was misplaced. Then came abdication of responsibility.
For a taste of just how much big tech companies have now taken over our lives and governments, see my interview with @marietjeschaake.bsky.social for DemocracyNext.
demnext.substack.com/p/ending-big...
For a taste of just how much big tech companies have now taken over our lives and governments, see my interview with @marietjeschaake.bsky.social for DemocracyNext.
demnext.substack.com/p/ending-big...