A gamechanger for increasing citizens’ voice? Evaluation of citizen participation in the democratic system

Abstract

As a democratic malaise spreads across European representative democracies, political leaders and activists seek to reinvigorate them through the use of democratic innovations. One central aim of democratic innovations is to increase citizens’ voice and power in the policy process, with the promise of increasing legitimacy, equal participation and superior political outcomes. Without a meaningful impact on decision-making, democratic innovations can become nothing more than window-dressing or gadgets. This panel explores the nuances of how and whether participatory designs actually have the political outcomes they promise on the large scale. It brings together papers that different elements of the participatory process: The focus of the panel is on how citizens perceive, evaluate and partake in participatory designs. It also explores the role of elite actors policy impact in these perceptions. Thereby, the panel also contributes to analyzing when, how, and why democratic innovations effectively help political elites adopt public decisions.

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Can Civil Society Counteract Disinformation? Mobilising Collective Intelligence in Electoral Processes	View Paper Details
Evaluating citizen engagement processes in EU policymaking: What works or what matters?	View Paper Details
Measuring the impact of participatory procedures in the policy process	View Paper Details