Participatory Democratic Innovations in Europe

Representative democracy is often seen as a stable institutional system unsusceptible to change. However, the preferences of the broad public are changing, and representative, group-based democracy has lost importance. This development has made it necessary to change established ways of decision mak [...]
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Representative democracy is often seen as a stable institutional system unsusceptible to change. However, the preferences of the broad public are changing, and representative, group-based democracy has lost importance. This development has made it necessary to change established ways of decision making and to introduce participatory democratic innovations. Many national and sub-national governments have followed this route and have implemented various kinds of participatory innovations, i.e. the inclusion of citizens into processes of political 'will-formation' and decision making. This book analyzes and evaluates the various effects of these innovations in Europe, providing a bigger picture of the benefits and disadvantages different democratic innovations can result in. Cooperation between state actors and non-state actors is widespread and has probably existed since the beginning of modern democracy. Currently, demands for the integration of non-state actors, especially citizens and civil society, into governance processes can be heard from many politicians, academics, and international organizations. And, indeed, many contemporary democratic activities are carried out in cooperation between non-state and state actors. The book highlights the budgetary processes conducted in cooperation of non-state and state actors. The book also looks at European, small-scale, deliberative procedures that emphasize discursive decision making - in contrast to the aggregative modus of direct democracy. Deliberative innovations are mostly adopted in experiments and small scale units.