Participatory democracy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Participatory democracy is a process emphasizing the broad participation (decision making) of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. While etymological roots imply that any democracy would rely on the participation of its citizens (the Greek demos and kratos combine to suggest that "the people rule"), traditional representative democracies tend to limit citizen participation to voting, leaving actual governance to politicians.
Participatory democracy strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decision-making, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities. Because so much information must be gathered for the overall decision-making process to succeed, technology may provide important forces leading to the type of empowerment needed for participatory models, especially those technological tools that enable community narratives and correspond to the accretion of knowledge.
Some scholars argue for refocusing the term 'participatory democracy' on community-based activity within the domain of civil society, based on the belief that a strong non-governmental public sphere is a precondition for the emergence of a strong liberal democracy.[1] These scholars tend to stress the value of separation between the realm of civil society and the formal political realm.[2]


Political variants
Political variants of participatory democracy include:
Anticipatory democracy
Consensus democracy
Deliberative democracy
Direct democracy
Non-partisan democracy
Grassroots democracy
Sociocracy
Representative democracy is not generally considered participatory. Bioregional democracy is often but not necessarily participatory. Grassroots democracy is an alternative term that has been used to imply almost any combination of the above.
Participatory politics (or parpolity) is a long-range political theory that also incorporates many of the above and strives to create a political system that will allow people to participate in politics, as much as possible in a face-to-face manner.
Panocracy or 'pantocracy' also has similarities with participatory democracy. However, it avoids the concept of demos or the people having a single view with the inevitable limitations that come from trying to agree what that view is. It also avoids the expectations that attach to anything called democracy.
New concepts such as open source governance, P2P governance, open source politics, and open politics seek to radically increase participation through electronic collaboration tools such as wikis and 'wikigovernment.

External links
The Citizen's Handbook
Athens Project - Organization dedicated to promoting Participatory Democracy by helping direct access democracy candidates run for office — Independent organization.
ParticipatoryDemocracy.net - Bilingual site (English & Spanish) sponsored by Participatory Democracia Cultural Initiative, Inc., an international non for profit association of volunteers devoted to the promotion of participatory democracy and human rights
Citizens Assembly Blog — J.H. Snider's blog covering citizens assembly developments worldwide
Conference: Participatory democracy: current situation and opportunities provided by the European Constitution
EESC conference on participatory democracy
Demosphere Project - The project to develop a community based e-democracy framework using open source and interactive software.
E-participation and the future of democracy
European Citizens' Panel on the roles of rural areas in tomorrow's Europe
European Citizens' Initiative - Campaign for more participation rights for citizens of the European Union
London Project for a Participatory Society - "An anti-racist, pro-feminist, anti-capitalist organization" in London, Ontario, Canada.
Metagovernment - Open source governance project aimed at replacing all governments with scored wikis
Participation through action research
Stakeholders and participatory democracy related to the MDGs
Voting methods resource page Includes a proposal for participatory democracy by means of a delegable proxy system.
Rete del Nuovo Municipio The Italian project for promoting participatory democracy, linking up local authorities, scientists and local committees.

Footnotes
^ Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, edited by Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka (Princeton University Press, 2002)
^ The Idea of Civil Society, by Adam B. Seligman (Princeton University Press, 1992)