Examining Participation across Generations: The Implications for Democratic Innovations

The literature concerned with participatory forms of democracy has traced a wide range of different forms of democratic participation. Accordingly, over recent years, varying proposals for practical democratic innovations have been put forward, each aiming to harness the normative and instrumental values associated with increased levels of citizen engagement in democracy. But much of this literature assumes participation is a static activity - little is known about the ways in which communities change and adapt the ways in which they participate in democracy over time. This paper aims to address this, examining the pressures and processes which determine the dynamics of participation at the neighbourhood level. The paper presents data from a detailed case study in one neighbourhood in England, drawing on archival data, interviews and testimony collected over more than two years in the field. The availability of archival data means that an account of participation can be provided which spans more than sixty years, and questions over the ways in which democratic life adapts and changes over time can be directly addressed. The results suggest that well-established norms of participation remain important in determining both the level and form of democratic engagement, and that innovations which do not take this into account struggle to take hold