Local Democratic Innovation and its Acceptance? Councilors’ assessment of deliberative participatory instruments

Most deliberative participatory instruments are implemented at the local level, which is regarded as a laboratory for democratic innovations. Driven by local governance style, democratic innovations and open government initiatives, cities implement their own mix of participatory instruments. Some deliberative instruments are predominantly offline (such as randomly selected citizen assembly, stakeholder conferences etc.) and some are primarily online (e-participatory budgeting). Based on a framework for online and offline participation (participatory rhombus) in the invented and invited participatory space, the paper presents detailed cross temporary survey data from representative surveys of local politicians in Germany. What are the attitudes of the local councilors regarding these new particular participatory instruments? In 2014 the level of acceptance of participatory instruments was differing. The new survey data allow a comparative detailed analysis of deliberative participation. Is its acceptance increasing?