Participatory Democracy
influence on policy making, quality of deliberation, and citizen engagement
Areas of impact Political Participation
Political participation
Taking part in political action or activity
Athenian democracy
To check the power of the oligarchs, a partial form of participatory democracy was initiated by Solon, where some decisions were made by a popular assembly composed of all free male citizens his evolved into more direct involvement by citizens
freedom of association and freedom of speech
Two important basic freedoms
Benjamin Barber
advocated for "individual democracy"; argued that liberal democracy with its focus on freedom alienated individuals from each other
1871
aris Commune sought to combine participatory democracy with collective ownership and management of the means of production
Jean Jacques Rousseau
democracy is incompatible with representative institutions
Critic of conservatives
excessively leftist in orientation
John Stuart Mill
freedom of association, and freedom of speech; he also was one of the first who advocated for a woman's right to vote
21st Century
led to the development of models and strategies for participatory democracy
Swiss Cantons
more direct democracy that was practiced in
John Dewey
participation in a democracy requires critical and inquisitive habits of mind, an inclination toward cooperation with others, and a feeling of public spiritedness and a desire to achieve the common good. This would require education.
1980s
participatory democracy began to be applied in local governance in many cities as democratization movements emerged in many parts of the world
Joel Wolfe
strong democracy should be a form of government in which all people participate in decision-making and implementation. While recognizing that the complexity of modern society imposes limits on direct democracy, participation by all is imperative because it creates shared interests, a common will, and community action, all of which inevitably give legitimacy to politics."
Representative democracy
technically is not participatory, since only the elected representatives are the ones participating in politics; the citizenry participates only during elections
Decentralization and devolution
transfer of decision making to local levels (principle of subsidiarity)