Democratic innovations in local governance systems: A less rational process towards waste reduction policy

Much attention has been given to the use of democratic innovations at the national level on the urgent topic of climate change. But the implementation of programs to combat climate change often happens locally, where new policies for energy production or waste reduction can meet strong local resistance (Stokes, 2015). In alignment with a systemic approach to deliberative democracy (Mansbridge et al., 2012), achieving effective climate policies with support from residents, political actors, and other stakeholders is not a straightforward process beginning and ending with the implementation of a democratic innovation. To situate democratic innovations in relation to existing political institutions and policy processes, practitioners must make choices about their integrative design (Boswell, Dean, & Smith, 2023). In the practical realm, challenges related to politics, funding, and citizen opinions arise during the course of the process (Dean et al., 2020). Practitioners are often faced with choices during the design and implementation of a democratic innovation that affect the eventual realization of its goals. Yet acknowledgement of the inherent messiness of this process is a somewhat recent development (Boswell et al., 2023). Through a comparative case study of two Dutch municipalities as they develop waste reduction policies, this paper seeks to unravel how these processes unfold within a local governance system and to elucidate the decisions practitioners make before, during, and after the implementation of democratic innovations that contribute to their systemic integration. Both municipalities use a combination of democratic innovations: a referendum followed by a citizens’ assembly. In both cases, this combination was unplanned – the municipal councils propose new waste reduction policies, which are then firmly rejected by citizens in referenda, initiated in one municipality bottom-up by citizens and in the other top-down by an opposition party. To respond to this unexpected situation, municipal councils in both localities call for citizens’ assemblies to further the process of developing a waste reduction policy. While the combination of multiple democratic innovations in one process is an idea gaining in popularity, (see o.a. Bobbio, 2019; Gastil & Richards, 2013; Hendriks & Wagenaar, 2023; McKay, 2019), the "referendum elaborating citizens’ assembly" is a less common combination that can play a role in interpreting referendum results and shaping policies aligned with citizen preferences (Hendriks & Wagenaar, 2023). The comparative analysis of these cases offers valuable insights. First, it highlights the challenges faced by municipalities dealing with urgent and polarizing climate policies marked by strong local resistance, as well as the potential role for combinations of democratic innovations, as this resistance triggers the combination of a referendum followed by a citizens' assembly. Second, this combination stems from an unexpected situation, compelling practitioners to adapt and make critical choices during the process. Empirical data on these choices and the rationale behind them helps us unpack their eventual consequences for the realization of the processes’ goals. Finally, the comparison sheds light on the complex integration of these democratic innovations into local governance systems, which is necessary to develop swift and effective responses to climate change.