Democratic Innovation and Local Administrations: Power Dynamics, Institutional Constraints, Strategic Interaction

Abstract

Democratic innovation encompasses participatory deliberative instruments that may be carried out at local level, across governmental levels involving one or more local administrations, and, in case of border areas, between one or more local administrations that relate to two or more States. In recent years, instruments of democratic innovation that originate from or involve local administrations have been mushrooming. So have the scholarly attempts to holistically grasp their essence. At the one hand, they aim at advancing a theoretical-normative grid as to their different approaches and designs. At the other hand, they aim at writing up recommendations as to their importance for reinvigorating decision-making processes at large. Empirical studies on democratic innovation and local administrations by and large focus on the practical unfolding of participatory deliberative instruments, less on the contextual embeddedness of such instruments from the viewpoints of local administrations. This panel aims to fill this gap and features papers that examine the role of local administrations in advancing, implementing, and co-shaping democratic innovation by means of citizens’ participation. To this end, local administrations are conceptualized as expressions of vertical and horizontal subsidiarity. Together with any other relevant actors, they aim at finding ways to include single or associated citizens in the management of activities of general interest at the one hand, and the management of the common good at the other hand. Such ways, in practice, unfold in many different formats. For the sake of simplicity, this panel groups participatory deliberative practices in three categories: First, consultative closed stakeholder forums or advisory councils to which one is elected or appointed to, and that have the task of representing a specific interest group (e.g., youth, elderly people, persons with disabilities). Second, regular or ad hoc open forums in which all interested people can either voice their interests regarding the management of the common good or take part in foresight activities (e.g., community meetings, hearings). Third, randomly selected forums that regard the management of the common good or a specific question in sectoral policymaking (e.g., citizens’ assemblies), and that can be limited in time or carried out on a regular basis. Each format binds local administrations differently, being of consultative or of decisive nature. Participatory deliberative instruments also come with different degrees of inclusion and temporality. They may be exclusively citizen-based or mixed forums, come in a physical, digital or hybrid form, and they may be carried out prior or parallel to policymaking processes or after a decision has already been taken (to legitimize it or to clear up disputes). Panelists are invited to think outside the box by exploring the nexus between democratic innovation and local administrations across social science disciplines. At the one hand, papers shall showcase how local administrations in the field of deliberative citizens’ participation are affected by power dynamics, institutional constraints, and strategic interaction. At the other hand, papers shall assess the role of local administrations in dealing with institutional innovation and participatory spaces – both in relation to bottom-up or top-down initiated practices.

Title	Details
Local Democratic Innovation and its Acceptance? Councilors’ assessment of deliberative participatory instruments	View Paper Details
“Local Action Groups” as a tool for facing depopulation in rural Spain	View Paper Details
The Effect of Open Voting on Local Democracy: Town Hall versus Ballot Decisions in Swiss Municipalities	View Paper Details
Democratic Innovation and Local Administrations in the Alpine region: A Contextual Analysis in relation to the Euroregion Tyrol-South Tyrol-Trentino	View Paper Details