Challenging the “Rules of the Game” – The Role of Bottom-up Participatory Experiments for Deliberative Democracy

Deliberative and participatory democratic theories provide the normative foundations for initiatives that aim at strengthening democracy with the help of “democratic innovations” or ‘participatory governance’. Most “deliberative” or “participatory theorists” argue that policies as well as constitutionally fixated “rules of the democratic game” should be justified within inclusive democratic procedures and discourses. Nevertheless, particularly “classical” Habermasian deliberative theory displays a remarkable status quo bias and underappreciates and undertheorizes the role of social movements for democratic legitimacy. Against this background, this chapter aims at providing a “deliberative account” of institutional/constitutional change that focuses on the role of bottom-up political action. I argue that civil society-led initiatives should make use of the tools of participatory governance to contest existing institutions and constitutional provisions. I refer to two exemplary cases in Iceland and Germany to illustrate the merits and pitfalls of civil society-driven initiatives I conclude that they provide a promising point of departure for democratic reform but must continuously navigate a fundamental dilemma: they must at the same time uphold their commitment to counteract and cooperate with established political elites.