Challenging Citizens: Democratic Innovations at the Local Level

Challenging Citizens: Democratic Innovations at the Local Level
Author: Pavel Šaradín
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 184
Release: 2023-12-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3031436741

The book aims to complement the existing research on democratic innovations mainly by making unique comparative analyses of the democratic innovations at the local level in selected European post-communist countries, i.e. the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia. Democratic innovations can help overcome political apathy, decreased confidence in democracy and improve efficiency of governance. We traditionally consider cities and municipalities to be cradles of democracy and connect them with deliberations on the further development of democratic theory and political practice. We therefore argue that the local level is a suitable arena and laboratory for both changes of institutional settings within the traditional model of representative democracy, and the structural changes, which concern changing relations between local representatives and citizens.

Democratic Innovations

Democratic Innovations
Author: Graham Smith
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 231
Release: 2009-07-02
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0521514770

This book examines democratic innovations from around the world, drawing lessons for the future development of both democratic theory and practice.

Participatory Democratic Innovations in Europe

Participatory Democratic Innovations in Europe
Author: Brigitte Geißel
Publisher: Verlag Barbara Budrich
Total Pages: 267
Release: 2013-11-20
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 3847403710

Representative democracy is often seen as a stable institutional system insusceptible to change. However, the preferences of the broad public are changing and representative, group based democracy has lost importance. This development made it necessary to change established ways of decision making and to introduce participatory democratic innovations. Many national and sub-national governments followed this route and implemented various kinds of participatory innovations, i.e. the inclusion of citizens into processes of political will-formation and decisionmaking. The authors analyse and evaluate the various effects of these innovations in Europe, providing a bigger picture of the benefits and disadvantages different democratic innovations can result in.

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy

Citizenship and Contemporary Direct Democracy
Author: David Altman
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2019
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1108496636

Offers a comparative study of the origins, performance, and reform of contemporary mechanisms of direct democracy.

Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance

Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance
Author: Stephen Elstub
Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
Total Pages: 621
Release: 2019-12-27
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1786433869

Democratic innovations are proliferating in politics, governance, policy, and public administration. These new processes of public participation are reimagining the relationship between citizens and institutions. This Handbook advances understanding of democratic innovations, in theory and practice, by critically reviewing their importance throughout the world. The overarching themes are a focus on citizens and their relationship to these innovations, and the resulting effects on political equality. The Handbook therefore offers a definitive overview of existing research on democratic innovations, while also setting the agenda for future research and practice.

Deepening Democracy

Deepening Democracy
Author: Archon Fung
Publisher: Verso
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2003
Genre: Democracy
ISBN: 9781859846889

The forms of liberal democracy developed in the 19th century seem increasingly ill-suited to the problems we face in the 21st. This dilemma has given rise to a deliberative democracy, and this text explores four contemporary cases in which the principles have been at least partially instituted.

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America

Deepening Local Democracy in Latin America
Author: Benjamin Goldfrank
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2015-09-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0271074515

The resurgence of the Left in Latin America over the past decade has been so notable that it has been called “the Pink Tide.” In recent years, regimes with leftist leaders have risen to power in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Uruguay, and Venezuela. What does this trend portend for the deepening of democracy in the region? Benjamin Goldfrank has been studying the development of participatory democracy in Latin America for many years, and this book represents the culmination of his empirical investigations in Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In order to understand why participatory democracy has succeeded better in some countries than in others, he examines the efforts in urban areas that have been undertaken in the cities of Porto Alegre, Montevideo, and Caracas. His findings suggest that success is related, most crucially, to how nationally centralized political authority is and how strongly institutionalized the opposition parties are in the local arenas.

Democracy in Motion

Democracy in Motion
Author: Tina Nabatchi
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2012-11-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 019999613X

Although the field of deliberative civic engagement is growing rapidly around the world, our knowledge and understanding of its practice and impacts remain highly fragmented. Democracy in Motion represents the first comprehensive attempt to assess the practice and impact of deliberative civic engagement. Organized in a series of chapters that address the big questions of deliberative civic engagement, it uses theory, research, and practice from around the world to explore what we know about, how we know it, and what remains to be understood. More than a simple summary of research, the book is designed to be accessible and useful to a wide variety of audiences, from scholars and practitioners working in numerous disciplines and fields, to public officials, activists, and average citizens who are seeking to utilize deliberative civic engagement in their communities. The book significantly enhances current scholarship, serving as a guide to existing research and identifying useful future research. It also has promise for enhancing practice, for example by helping practitioners, public officials, and others better think through and articulate issues of design and outcomes, thus enabling them to garner more support for public deliberation activities. In addition, by identifying what remains to be learned about public deliberation, practitioners and public officials may be inspired to connect with scholars to conduct research and evaluations of their efforts.

Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions Catching the Deliberative Wave

Innovative Citizen Participation and New Democratic Institutions Catching the Deliberative Wave
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2020-06-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9264725903

Public authorities from all levels of government increasingly turn to Citizens' Assemblies, Juries, Panels and other representative deliberative processes to tackle complex policy problems ranging from climate change to infrastructure investment decisions. They convene groups of people representing a wide cross-section of society for at least one full day – and often much longer – to learn, deliberate, and develop collective recommendations that consider the complexities and compromises required for solving multifaceted public issues.

Deliberative Mini-Publics

Deliberative Mini-Publics
Author: Maija Setälä
Publisher: ECPR Press
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2014-07-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1907301321

The first comprehensive account of the booming phenomenon of deliberative mini-publics, this book offers a systematic review of their variety, discusses their weaknesses, and recommends ways to make them a viable component of democracy. The book takes stock of the diverse practices of deliberative mini-publics and, more concretely, looks at preconditions, processes, and outcomes. It provides a critical assessment of the experience with mini-publics; in particular their lack of policy impact. Bringing together leading scholars in the field, notably James S Fishkin and Mark E Warren, Deliberative Mini-Publics will speak to anyone with an interest in democracy and democratic innovations.