Citizens’ Assemblies in Authoritarian Regimes: China, Cuba and Libya

China, Cuba, and Libya each faces a challenging question of whether each would establish and improve citizens’ assemblies through the introduction of deliberative and partially empowered institutions and practices. This gives rise to questions of why and how partial empowerment and deliberative mechanisms arise and exist within the confines of an authoritarian regime. This chapter compares the similarities, differences, and variations of citizens’ assemblies in the three authoritarian states, with a particular focus on whether the assemblies are partially empowered or not. It offers three possible explanations of the phenomenon of partial empowerment through investigating the three conditions – leadership, ideology, and market development—that enable or constrain empowerment and deliberation. The conditions that enabled or constrained the incidences of partial empowerment surveyed here hold significance for political emancipation under authoritarian regimes in the 21st century.