Democratic Innovations: Uses and Perceptions

The last two decades have marked a rapid development in the use of democratic innovations throughout the world. While their origins and functions have been analyzed in detail, we know relatively little about how democratic innovations are perceived by those who initiate them, participate or have the responsibility to implement their outcomes. The 2021 ECPR General Conference Section on Democratic Innovations aims to bridge the gap between various perspectives on democratic innovations and welcomes papers and panels that focus on various democratic innovations but also on how those involved in democratic innovations understand, perceive and influence their functioning. The section invites paper and panel submissions that speak to any of the following themes and general questions: 1. Perceptions of democratic innovations: How do citizens, practitioners and decision-makers relate to democratic innovations? How are they perceived by those who get involved in it and by external actors? What is the potential of DIs to increase participation? 2. Democratic innovations in theory and in practice: How and why political or non-political actors engage in democratic innovations? How do democratic innovations address policy problems through citizens’ involvement? How can we relate theories of democratic innovations with the way they function in practice? 3. The Challenges of Outcomes: What are the challenges faced by institutions and decision-makers in implementing the outcomes of democratic innovations? How does citizens’ involvement in democratic innovations alter the quality of democracy? What are the consequences of democratic innovations on the political process as a whole? Panels (descriptions and papers are available): 1. Deliberative democracy after mini-publics (Nicole Curato and Kimmo Gronlund) 2. Democracy and Climate Change: Challenges for Democratic Innovation (Simon Niemeyer and Hannah Werner) 3. Deliberative mini-publics: A maxi-public perspective (Lisa van Dijk and Alexander Geisler) 4. Normative perspectives on citizens' assemblies (Graham Smith) 5. New boundaries of epistemic concerns in deliberative democracy (Rod Dacombe and Marta Wojciechowska) 6. Direct democracy and its use at different levels (Nanuli Silagadze and Petar Bankov) 7. Media and democratic innovations – Media as a public sphere or an actor or both? (Marina Lindell and Kim Strandberg) 8. Destructive or Deliberative? Deliberation among the Political Elite (Emma Turkenburg and Ine Goovaerts) 9. The role of local entities in democratic innovation/participatory democracy: institutional and relational aspects (Elisabeth Alber and Norbert Kersting) 10. Public support for democratic innovations. Does the devil lie in the details? (Jean-Benoit Pilet) 11. Democratic Deliberation and Under-Represented Groups in Europe (Monika Mokre and Sergiu Miscoiu) 12. Referendums and Policies: Explaining Choices, Challenges and Impact (Sergiu Gherghina and Raluca Lutai)