Literature
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[*]Drysek, J. S. (2002). Deliberative Democracy and Beyond: Liberals, Critics, Contestations. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[*]Elstub, E., Escobar, E. (2019) Defining and typologising democratic innovations. In E. Elstub & E. Escobar (Eds.), Handbook of Democratic Innovation and Governance (pp. 11-31). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.
[*]Geißel, B., & Newton, K. (Eds.). (2012). Evaluating democratic innovations: Curing the democratic malaise? London: Routledge.
[*]Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and Democratic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[*]Pogrebinschi, T. (2023). Innovating Democracy? The Means and Ends of Citizen Participation in Latin America (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
[*]Schumpeter, J. (1942). Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy. New York: Harper & Brothers.
[*]Smith, G. (2009). Democratic Innovations: Designing Institutions for Citizen Participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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Official Course Description
The concept of Democratic Innovations (DIs) has recently emerged in the scientific literature of the field of Governance, Public Administration and Public Policy as an umbrella term for the analysis of initiatives that seek to promote citizen inclusion and participation in governance arrangements and in decision- and policy-making processes (Elstub & Escobobar 2019; Smith 2009).
This concept can be defined as institutions or processes (Elstub & Escobobar 2019; Smith 2009) that employ deliberative and/or participatory (Smith 2009; Warren 2009) means to increase and diversify citizen’s participation in the policy cycle (Elstub & Escobar 2019; Pogrebinschi 2023) with the overarching goal of improving the quality of democracy (Geißel & Newton 2012) by tackling specific contextual deficits (Pogrebinschi 2023).
The purpose of this seminar is to provide an overview of the historical trajectory, as well as the theoretical debates on the concept of DIs in relation to specific thematic questions such as the underlying theories of democracy, institutional designs, problem areas and lacuna, and relationship with goals of sustainability both social and environmental.
To achieve this, the seminar will:
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[*]Review the key aspects of the debates on democratic theory regarding elitists conceptions of democracy (e.g., Schumpeter 1947) as well as alternative proposals such as participatory (Pateman 1970) and deliberative (Drysek 2002) democratic theories that underline the conceptualisation of DIs.
[*]Analyse specific innovations in relation to their historical and theoretical background as well as to their institutional design and expected outcomes.
[*]Critically approach problematic issues in the literature and practice of DIs such as the extent to which DIs are effective in achieving so-called "democratic goods" (inclusiveness, citizen control and empowerment, considered judgment, transparency, efficiency).
[*]Assess the role that these innovations can play in tackling real world problems related to social and environmental sustainability.
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At the end of the seminar, students are expected to have cursory understanding about the main topics of the theoretical debates about DIs as well as have cursory knowledge about the historical trajectory of these innovations.
[b]Method[/b]:
This seminar is taught through expository classes, debates on scientific articles and discussions on specific democratic innovations in different countries.
[b]Assessment[/b]:
To be defined later
- Lehrende: João Moniz Laranjeira da Silva