The role of government and governance in democratic innovations

Abstract

At a moment where increased citizen participation is seen as a powerful solution to democratic crises, it is essential to evaluate how political elites interact with democratic innovations. Deliberative mini-publics, such as citizen assemblies or citizen panels, in particular have spread across the world and been implemented at various levels of government. Recent research however has shown that their political impact and potential for expanding civic trust rests on a central requirement: the support of political elites. This panel explores the different roles elites can play in deliberative mini-publics and the connected outcomes of this involvement. It weighs both cases where elites have expanded the impact, integrity and expertise of citizen assemblies with cases where elite involvement may pose a danger to the democratic process. The papers thereby pose the question of how to best integrate democratic innovations into the larger policy process.

Title	Details
The development of civic virtues and perceptions of democratic governance in a citizens’ panel: Does the presence of politicians make a difference?	View Paper Details
How mini-publics deal with the challenge of elite manipulation: comparing two models in Belgium	View Paper Details
Political support for hybrid democratic innovations: Local councilors’ perceptions of the merits and challenges of sequencing deliberative and aggregative participatory instruments	View Paper Details
Elite perspectives on the merits of deliberative mini-publics: Local officials’ tales from three Swiss cities	View Paper Details
Fact-checking and expertise in transnational citizen assemblies: the case of the European Citizen Panels	View Paper Details