Trust in government has been collapsing all over the world over the last decade - but one country has bucked the trend. Fewer than 10% of the population trusted government in 2014, but by 2024, that figure had climbed above 70%. Spurred on by a collective of civic hackers calling themselves “Gov Zero”, Taiwan has trusted its people, opened its institutions, and even crowdsourced what was arguably the world’s most successful Covid response. In this episode, we draw out the lessons every nation can learn from this story with the help of one of its key actors, Audrey Tang.

Audrey is Taiwan’s “Cyber Ambassador” and former Minister of Digital Affairs. A prominent member of the Gov Zero collective, she became a reverse mentor to Minister Jaclyn Tsai in the aftermath of the peaceful Sunflower Revolution in 2014, before joining government herself in 2016 - and becoming the world’s first transgender minister in the process.

• (00:00:01) - A prayer for the Internet
• (00:00:43) - How to Save Democracy in 2030
• (00:04:27) - Protesters and the Tunisian Revolution
• (00:08:33) - The 'GoV0' movement in Taiwan
• (00:11:25) - The Sunflower Revolution and the Occupy Movement
• (00:22:07) - Taiwan's vaccination response: Fast, Fair and Fun
• (00:26:38) - Taiwan's growing trust level
• (00:34:22) - Audrey's Singularity: The Future of Collaboration
• (00:40:51) - Citizen Story: Building a Bridge
• (00:50:45) - The Time for a Demonstration
• (00:52:51) - How to Save Democracy

In September 2025, Jon hosted a live event in Dublin exploring the past, present and future of one of the most exciting democratic experiments of recent times. Over the last 15 years, Ireland's Citizens' Assembly has brought nearly 600 randomly selected citizens together to deliberate on issues from abortion to marriage equality to biodiversity, before making recommendations to elected officials. Join us as we delve into what happened, how, and why - and ask whether this approach could help save democracy all over the world.

Art O'Leary is chief executive at An Coimisiún Toghcháin, the Electoral Commission of Ireland, the management and oversight organisation for electoral and wider democracy matters, and Secretary to the Citizens’ Assembly.

Louise Caldwell is one of the randomly selected citizens to have taken part in the Assembly, and has since joined the board of People Powered, the global advocacy organisation for participatory democracy.

• (00:00:03) - Becoming a Citizens Assembly member
• (00:01:19) - Irish Citizens Assembly
• (00:05:20) - Citizens Assembly
• (00:13:28) - The Irish Citizens Assembly
• (00:16:39) - Citizens' Assembly
• (00:17:55) - Citizens Assembly and the Ireland referendum
• (00:25:48) - Ireland's first Citizens Assembly
• (00:33:31) - What is the Citizen Assembly
• (00:39:18) - Citizens Assembly: The best cure for polarization
• (00:43:42) - Citizens Assembly and the future
• (00:51:23) - The German Community Parliament's Citizens Assembly
• (00:58:33) - Citizens Assembly: The Safe Space for Democracy
• (01:03:48) - How to Save Democracy

In this episode, co-host Omezzine Khelifa turns the mic on her fellow presenter, Jon Alexander. Before founding the New Citizenship Project and writing Citizens, Jon spent a decade in the world of advertising — helping big brands sell more stuff. So how did he make the leap from marketing to reimagining democracy?

Omezzine asks the thoughtful (and tough) questions as we trace Jon’s journey from consumer culture to citizen action — as they explore what it really means to tell a hopeful new story about democracy’s future.