8. Conclusion: Comparative Lessons for Participatory Democracy Theory

The article is devoted to issues of ensuring transparency and ac- countability of authorities in the conditions of participatory democracy (democ- racy of participation). It is argued that the public should be guaranteed not only the right for access to information but also the prerequisites for expanding its par- ticipation in state governance. These prerequisites include: the adoption of clearly measurable macroeconomic and social goals and the provision of control of the processes of their compliance with the government by citizens of the country; ex- tension of the circle of subjects of legislative initiative due to realization of such rights by citizens and their groups; legislative definition of the forms of citizens’ participation in making publicly significant decisions, design of relevant orders and procedures, in particular participation in local referendum; outlining methods and procedures for taking into account social thought when making socially im- portant decisions. The need to disclose information about resources that are used by authorities to realize the goals is proved as well as key performance indicators that can be monitored by every citizen; the efforts made by governments of coun- tries to achieve these goals. It was noted that transparency in the conditions of representative democracy in its worst forms in a society where ignorance of the thought of society and its individual members is ignored does not in fact fulfill its main task — to establish an effective dialogue between the authorities and so- ciety. There is a distortion of the essence of transparency: instead of being heard, society is being asked to be informed — and passively accept the facts presented as due. In fact, transparency and accountability in this case are not instruments for the achievement of democracy in public administration, but by the form of a tacit agreement between the subjects of power and people, where the latter passes the participation of an “informed observer”.

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Social Media and Participatory Democracy

10.3726/978-1-4539-1317-8 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Shannon E. Martin

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Participatory Democracy

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Participatory Democracy, Decentralization and Local Governance: The Montreal Participatory Budget in the Light of ‘Empowered Participatory Governance’

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.1802754 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Caroline Patsias

Keyword(s):

Participatory Democracy ◽

Local Governance ◽

Participatory Governance ◽

Participatory Budget

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Participatory Democracy: Organised Civil Society and the 'New' Dialogue

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.581442 ◽

2004 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nicolas Beger

Keyword(s):

Civil Society ◽

Participatory Democracy

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Corruption and Anticorruption in Democratic Athens

10.1093/oso/9780198809975.003.0002 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Claire Taylor

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Participatory Democracy ◽

Collective Decision ◽

Civic Culture ◽

Collective Decision Making ◽

Alexander The Great ◽

Political Equality ◽

Individual Judgment ◽

Collective Judgment ◽

Hidden Knowledge

The chapter examines a major corruption scandal that involved the Athenian orator Demosthenes and an official of Alexander the Great. This episode reveals how tensions between individual and collective decision-making practices shaped Athenian understandings of corruption and anticorruption. The various and multiple anticorruption measures of Athens sought to bring ‘hidden’ knowledge into the open and thereby remove information from the realm of individual judgment, placing it instead into the realm of collective judgment. The Athenian experience therefore suggests that participatory democracy, and a civic culture that fosters political equality rather than reliance on individual expertise, provides a key bulwark against corruption.

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Choric Theatre

10.1093/oso/9780199651634.003.0011 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Erika Fischer-Lichte

Keyword(s):

Participatory Democracy ◽

Berlin Wall ◽

Political Theatre ◽

New Form ◽

Important Form

The ninth chapter, ‘Choric Theatre. Between Tragic Experience and Participatory Democracy’, discusses a new form of theatre that grew out of Greek tragedy’s chorus. While Einar Schleef used the chorus in The Mothers (1986) in order to create a new tragic theatre, in the 1990s—that is, after the protest choruses of the Monday demonstrations in the GDR had led to the fall of the Berlin Wall—choric theatre became an important form of political theatre. Mostly, these choruses were composed of local citizens, as in Volker Lösch’s Oresteia in Dresden (2003) or in theatercombinat’s The Persians (2006–8), and often even of members of a minority, as in all of Volker Lösch’s later productions. Here choric theatre gave a voice to those who had been silenced and even anticipated a utopia of a truly participatory democracy.

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