Participatory democracy

Participatory democracy or participatory democracy (of participation, partaking ',' Participate ' and democracy, rule of the people ') refers to a primarily normative democratic theory flow, the political participation of as many calls in as many areas as well as their practical implementation. The extension of the principle of democracy on different social and economic sectors and to some extent, especially in feminist theories of democracy, on the privacy is at the heart of participatory democracy theories. The legitimacy of a democracy is accordingly ensured through participation in and influence on decisions at different political levels and in civil society. So Participatory democracy theories include a strong emphasis on policy inputs by the citizens.

Concept and models of participatory democracy

Fundamental to the participatory democracy is a perceived lack of investment opportunities within the existing liberal representative democracies, which are provided by the critical theories of participatory democracy. On this basis the participatory democracy theories, however, are not a homogeneous theory building but a wide range of approaches, however, share several basic features:

• The social decision to " come out of the active and equal participation of all members of society. "
• Participatory democracy theories evaluate the participation and political will of the citizens generally higher than representation and effectiveness of governance.
• The demand that democratic participation should beyond the realm of traditional political institutions such as government and political parties addition to areas such as business, labor, education, and - especially in feminist theory - be extended to the private sphere, is of great importance.
• The directness of citizen participation is a key feature of several variants of participatory democracy.
• Participatory democracy theories assume that " average citizens capable of more and better participation " are or may be qualified and have so far an optimistic picture of the citizen.

The deliberative democracy theories are sometimes counted among the participatory democracy theories. Under this assumption, the deliberation can be identified as another key feature of various models of participatory democracy. On the other hand, there are also efforts to delineate participatory and deliberative democracy from each other.

The individual representatives of participatory democracy have different ideas about the implementation, for instance in the question to what extent the institutions of civil society should be involved as clubs and other initiatives in decisions and tasks, or rather the existing ( state ) work institutions with more citizen participation in decision-making and implementation process should (see, for example, Benjamin R. Barber, " Strong democracy ").

Demarcation from other theories of democracy

General differences:

• More coverage of the democratic principle, that democracy is not only a form of government, but also as a form of life or mode of being, so that
• Expansion of the political on all spheres of society, and thus a
• Direct popular rule.

Critique of classical representative democracy:

• Representation is understood by theorists of participatory democracy, the power output and leads to a less dominion over many ( oligarchy ). It is questioned whether elected parties or politicians are really legitimized as democratic. ( A large number of abstentions citizens delegitimiere elected politicians to speak " on behalf of the people". )
• Participation is inhibited by choice, initiative is displaced social self-organization can not be fully developed.

Contrast to direct democracy:

• Generally, direct democracy can be viewed as a form of participatory democracy, as well as here and more citizens are involved in the policy-making process,
• Direct democracy wants to "political questions directly by popular vote " decision, while participatory democracy Contribute understands not only vote, but also other forms of participation,
• Participatory democracy wants to expand the democratic principle to other areas such as the economy.

Theoretical lines

The following theoretical concepts can be assigned to the current democratic theory of participatory democracy (in the broader sense, however, in part ):

• Expansive democracy ( Warren )
• Extensive Democracy ( Anton Pelinka )
• Strong democracy (Benjamin R. Barber )
• Associative democracy ( Hirst, Paul )
• Dialogic democracy (Anthony Giddens ),
• Deliberative democracy ( James S. Fishkin, Jürgen Habermas, Seyla Benhabib ).
• Democracy and education ( John Dewey )
• Democracy dynamically ( Philipp Jurschitz )

Examples in the Federal Republic of Germany

The Freiwilligensurvey '99, the Enquete Commission on the Future of civic engagement of the Bundestag, the International Year of Volunteers (IYV ) are just a few milestones that show how strong the third sector ( voluntary work ) today, and also by the state and the policy perceived will.

One form of participation by citizens can be a so-called citizen workshop. One such example, has the city of Bonn in October 2005 set up the design of the area in front of the main train station.

The development of the society to an information society is reflected in different approaches of e- democracy and the Liquid Democracy.

Participatory Democracy in Europe

European Union

→ European advocacy

Were found early in the draft constitutions of the European Union elements of participatory democracy. The Treaty of Lisbon took over this product 1:1 in the EU treaty in force since 2009:

" Art 11 TEU

( 1) The Union's institutions give citizens and representative associations, the opportunity to give their views on all areas of Union action known and publicly exchange.

( 2) The Union Institutions shall maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with representative associations and civil society.

( 3) In order to ensure the coherence and transparency of EU action, the Commission shall carry out broad consultations with parties concerned.

( 4) At least one million citizens from a significant number of Member States may request the Commission to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where it requires the citizens of the Union legal act to implement this Constitution. The provisions for the specific procedures and conditions required for such a citizens ' initiative shall be determined by a European law. "

The Treaty of Lisbon, the legal basis of a European Citizens' Initiative were created. But on this particular instrument beyond basics for participatory democracy in the EU have been established. The EU also applies to the European Economic and Social Committee as a tool of participatory democracy.

Municipalities

Numerous local and Regional contact in one form or another to the principle of participatory democracy. This is where the citizen participation (participation) in different areas and in different areas of municipal or regional decision-making levels: participatory budgeting, community planning and other fields of municipal self-government.

Criticism

The following points of criticism towards participatory democracy theory expressed (1-6 by Manfred G. Schmidt, theories of democracy ):

Quotes

• John S. Dryzek: If democracy is a good thing ..., then more democracy shoulderstand presumably to be even better thing - If democracy is a good thing, then probably more democracy is something even better. (In: John S. Dryzek. Political Inclusion and the Dynamics of Democratization APSR 87, pp. 48-60 )
• Jürgen Habermas: democracy works on the self-determination of mankind. ( See Study Student and politics. )
• Peter Bachrach: The majority of individuals can only be obtained by a more active participation in important decisions of the community self-confidence and develop their skills better. The people have therefore generally a double political interest - interest in the end results and interest in the process of participation. (See Peter Bachrach: The theory of democratic elite domination, 1970, pp. 119f. )