Innovations in democratic governance: how does citizen participation contribute to a better democracy?
Innovations in democratic governance: how does citizen participation contribute to a better democracy?
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民主治理的创新：公民参与如何促进更好的民主？
DOI：
10.1177/0020852311399851
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发表时间：
2011
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Ank Michels
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ank Michels
近几十年来，许多国家在公民投票、公民论坛、公民陪审团、协作治理、参与式预算和其他公民拥有更直接发言权的模式方面积累了经验。公民参与通常被认为是民主公民权和民主决策的重要组成部分。许多理论家声称公民参与对民主的质量有积极的影响。本文考察了在不同西方国家的大量案例中这些索赔的可能性。根据对民主产生积极影响的程度，对四种类型的民主创新进行了区分和评价。研究结果表明，公民参与对民主有许多积极影响：它增加了对问题的认识、公民技能和公众参与，并有助于参与者对决策的支持。分析还清楚地表明，参与对民主的贡献因民主创新的类型而异；审议论坛和调查似乎更善于促进争论的交流，而公民投票和参与式决策项目则更善于使公民对决策产生影响并使更多的人参与其中。但是，正如我试图论证的那样，由于这些积极影响只有那些参与的人才能感受到，而且参与者的数量往往很少，或者特定群体的代表人数不足，因此，对个人民主公民身份的好处远比对整个民主的好处更具决定性。本文区分了四种类型的民主创新，并针对每种类型考察了公民参与对民主质量的影响。它系统地分析了参与对民主要素的贡献，例如对决策、包容、技能和美德、审议和合法性的影响。分析指出了对民主的一些积极影响，但研究结果也表明，参与对民主的贡献因民主创新的类型而异。
Over recent decades, many countries have gained experience with referendums, citizens’ forums, citizens’ juries, collaborative governance, participatory budgeting, and other models in which citizens have a more direct say. Citizen participation is usually considered a valuable element of democratic citizenship and democratic decision-making. Many theorists claim that citizen participation has positive effects on the quality of democracy. This article examines the probability of these claims for a large number of cases in different Western countries. Four types of democratic innovation are distinguished and evaluated according to the extent to which they realize positive effects on democracy. The findings show that citizen involvement has a number of positive effects on democracy: it increases issue knowledge, civic skills, and public engagement, and it contributes to the support for decisions among the participants. The analysis also makes it clear that the contribution of participation to democracy differs according to type of democratic innovations; deliberative forums and surveys appear to be better at promoting the exchange of arguments, whereas referendums and participatory policy making projects are better at giving citizens influence on policy making and involving more people. But, as I try to argue, since these positive effects are perceptible only to those taking part and the number of participants is often small or particular groups are underrepresented, the benefits to individual democratic citizenship are far more conclusive than the benefits to democracy as a whole. Points for practitioners This article distinguishes four types of democratic innovation and, for each type, examines the effects of citizen participation on the quality of democracy. It offers a systematic analysis of the contribution of participation to elements of democracy, such as influence on decision-making, inclusion, skills and virtues, deliberation, and legitimacy. The analysis points to a number of positive effects on democracy, but the findings also show that the contribution of participation to democracy differs according to the type of democratic innovations.