Democratic Innovations: Ideals and Realities

Abstract

This panel aims to explore the extent to which democratic innovations affect the functioning of democracy. Democratic innovations aim to increase popular involvement in political decision-making. Ideally, this should increase the inclusiveness, transparency and quality of decision-making. In 'Democracy for Realists', Achen & Bartels question the use of democratic reforms to improve popular control over political decision-making. Their critique calls into question whether letting citizens participate in democratic innovations can help realize these democratic goods. They claim that such participatory reforms frequently fail to shift powers from political elites to ordinary citizens. Furthermore, when citizens do make decisions, the outcomes may well be costly and favour a small minority rather than the common good. The critique launched in Democracy for Realists takes aim at direct-democratic instruments and reforms of party nomination procedures in the context of the US. While the focus is thus fairly narrow, it provides a fertile starting point for examining the gap between ideals and realities when it comes to the impact of democratic innovations in a broader context. It is still far from certain that allowing citizens to participate in political decision-making always has positive effects for democratic legitimacy. There is good reason to examine under what circumstances participatory reforms can help achieve democratic goods. In this panel, we contribute to this research agenda and explore the extent to which democratic innovations have fulfilled their promises to empower citizens and improve the functioning of democracy.