Digging deeper on the Global South distinction in the field of democratic innovation

Abstract

Deliberative democracy theory and practice are now spreading to many parts of the world, with new institutional designs in places such as Latin America and East Asia. The question remains as to the suitability of models of democratic innovation from the Global North for less developed countries or how these models and ideas should be adapted. First, there are important questions related to scope: What should count as the Global South within the sphere of democratic innovation? Is the Global South the analytical category we want to use in the theory of democratic innovation? What particularities of the Global South are relevant to democratic innovation? Answers to such questions tend to focus on high levels of poverty, inequality and corruption. Others mention the economic constraint that poor countries face when organizing costly deliberative processes that may be seen as “luxuries” in contexts of deprivation. Well-developed countries also have these problems, but the degree varies. Should deliberative processes in the Global South be measured by the same standards as the Global North? There is much discussion about the need to avoid importing from the North to the South, but perhaps this requires further debate. What exactly should not be imported and for what reasons? Maybe some things, such as deliberative normative ideals, can be shared between North and South, while others, such as specific designs, need special adaptation. On the other side, is there a risk of what some have called the "tropicalization of deliberative democracy"? Can the Global South discourse contribute to legitimizing a precarization of the norms of democratic innovation and a delay in the materialization of democratic ideals? While the discussion is almost always framed in terms of shortcomings, this panel, in a more optimistic vein, would also like to explore the opportunities for deliberative democracy in the Global South. We welcome papers on normative theory and empirical research addressing these or other related questions. We also welcome localized case studies and more generally oriented papers.

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