Designing Impact: How Democratic Innovations May (Or May Not) Achieve Effective Governance

Grounded in democratic theory, scholarly work in the field of democratic innovations has been predisposed to questions of how institutional designs compare in achieving inclusive participation, considered deliberation and empowered citizens. Much less attention has been paid to how the institutional design features of deliberative and participatory innovations may also achieve (or negate) effective governance and relevant policy impact. Using a combination of rich datasets, this paper addresses the question using qualitative comparative analysis (QCA). We assess how institutional design features of the National Public Policy Conferences in Brazil determine their impact on enacted policies and legislation.