The use of participatory innovations has expanded vastly in Europe. Empirical studies have focused on the impacts of participation and deliberation on the participating individuals excluding the effects on the wider public. I study whether the availability of participatory innovations fosters political support in established democracies. Theoretically, decision-making may be regarded as more responsive, changing citizens’ evaluations of government performance. Second, the availability of participatory innovations may also have an independent effect on evaluations of procedural fairness. The data consist of 9603 individuals in a representative sample of Finnish municipalities (n=34). Multilevel regression modeling is used to analyze the effect of the availability of 10 different types of participatory innovations – such as citizen juries and committees – on perceived responsiveness and procedural fairness. The results shed light on the possibilities of participatory innovations in building political support for democratic systems.
