Democratic Processes: Linking Citizens and the State

Abstract

This panel aims to examine one aspect of how representative democracy works by re-evaluating the way that people and the state are linked. It has been argued that this link has weakened during the last decades with e.g. the decline of traditional forms of participation. As such, civil society and the state are increasingly difficult to bridge, and people are withdrawing themselves from the political process. Papers will focus on one of two questions: 1) which structural conditions help people’s preferences to be included into the policies that govern them (e.g. responsiveness); and 2) in what way can citizens’ behaviour result in a closing of the democratic divide (i.e. alternative forms of participation)?

Title	Details
Investigating the Responsive/Responsible Dilemma: An Analysis of Policy-Legitimation Arguments	View Paper Details
I Abstain if Voting takes me More than 30 Minutes: The Impact of Internet Voting on Reducing the Cost of Electoral Participation	View Paper Details
Legislative Agenda and the Personal Vote	View Paper Details
Direct Democracy and Representation: When is the Gun Behind the Door Loaded?	View Paper Details
Differential Participation, Differential Responsiveness? The Democraticness of Different Forms of Participation	View Paper Details