Deliberative Democracy when Democracy is Declining: Revitalizing Democracy in Central and Eastern European countries

Abstract

Citizens' panels and other deliberative designs only recently became a visible methods of involving citizens in decision-making processes at the local and national level in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). This panel aims to present the most recent research on deliberative processes and any types of democratic innovations in the region where representative democracy is sliding back. The collected papers aim to contribute to the debate in the literature on democratic innovations by studying the development as well as the impact of new forms of deliberative politics in countries that have experienced the so-called “democratic backsliding” in recent years, e.g. Poland and Hungary. At the same in such difficult circumstances, we observe the emergence of new deliberative solutions becoming more and more popular due to the involvement of representatives of the third sector in transferring experiences from abroad and adapting them to the specificity of the countries in the region. The panel will address the problems of representative democracy that deliberative innovations aim to address, the design of deliberative innovations, the impact on public policies and policymaking process and the impact on participants and wider audience. More specifically, the panel will help answer the following questions: Is it possible to advance democratic renewal by designing a legitimate, fair, and deliberative process that would address a key element of democratic deficits? Can deliberative democracy be used to improve weakened representative democracy in CEE countries? Do deliberative panels help to strengthen the acceptance of public decisions, and thus trust in institutions and rulers?

Title	Details
Enhancing Political Participation through Deliberative Minipublics: Evidence from Swiss Climate Protection Cases	View Paper Details
Can Deliberative Instruments Save (also) Representative Politics in Backsliding Context? First evidence from the case of Poland	View Paper Details
Deliberation in the service of just transition: Evaluation of deliberation in Polish Citizens’ Assembly on Energy Costs	View Paper Details
Strengthening Local Democracy or window dressing? Insights from Poznan and Budapest Citizens' Assemblies	View Paper Details