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Participatory democracy, with subtype direct democracy, is a process emphasizing the broad participation of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. Etymological roots of democracy (Greek demos and kratos) imply that the people are in power and thus that all democracies are participatory. However, traditional representative democracy tends to limit citizen participation to voting, leaving actual governance to politicians.^{[citation needed]}

Participatory democracy strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decision-making, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities. Because so much information must be gathered for the overall decision-making process to succeed, technology may provide important forces leading to the type of empowerment needed for participatory models, especially those technological tools that enable community narratives and correspond to the accretion of knowledge. Effectively increasing the scale of participation, and translating small but effective participation groups into small world networks, are areas currently being studied.^[1]

Some scholars argue (for a cause) for refocusing the term on community-based activity within the domain of civil society, based on the belief that a strong non-governmental public sphere is a precondition for the emergence of a strong liberal democracy.^[2] These scholars tend to stress the value of separation between the realm of civil society and the formal political realm.^[3]

Contents 1 Political variants 2 Social movements practicing participatory democracy 3 See also 4 External links 5 Footnotes

[edit] Political variants

Political variants of participatory democracy include:

Anticipatory democracy Consensus democracy Deliberative democracy Direct democracy

Non-partisan democracy Grassroots democracy Sociocracy Demarchy

Representative democracy is not generally considered participatory. Bioregional democracy is often but not necessarily participatory. Grassroots democracy is an alternative term that has been used to imply almost any combination of the above.^{[citation needed]}

Participatory politics (or parpolity) is a long-range political theory that also incorporates many of the above and strives to create a political system that will allow people to participate in politics, as much as possible in a face-to-face manner.^{[citation needed]}

Panocracy or 'pantocracy' also has similarities with participatory democracy. However, it avoids the concept of demos or the people having a single view with the inevitable limitations that come from trying to agree what that view is. It also avoids the expectations that attach to anything called democracy.^{[citation needed]}

Demarchy is a hypothetical system where government is heavily decentralized into smaller independent groups. Each group is responsible for one or several functions in society. Officials are volunteers elected to committees controlling these groups by sortition. The system seeks to avoid problems with centralized and electoral governance, while still providing a stable democratic system.^{[citation needed]}

New concepts such as open source governance, P2P governance, open source politics, and open politics seek to radically increase participation through electronic collaboration tools such as wikis and 'wikigovernment'.

[edit] Social movements practicing participatory democracy

• Abahlali baseMjondolo - South African shack dwellers' movement
• Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela
• Inclusive Democracy - Takis Fotopoulos' Inclusive Democracy Project & Journal of Inclusive Democracy
• Homeless Workers' Movement - Brazilian shack dwellers' movement
• Landless People's Movement - South African movement of people without land
• Landless Workers' Movement - Brazilian landless people's movement
• Narmada Bachao Andolan in India
• Students for a Democratic Society - United States students movement in the 1960s and again in 2006.
• Western Cape Anti-Eviction Campaign - Militant poor people's movement in Cape Town
• Zapatista Army of National Liberation - Mexican indigenous people's movement

[edit] See also

E-participation E-democracy Deliberative democracy Direct democracy Inclusive Democracy Open business Open source governance

Participatory economics Workers' council Participatory justice Political literacy Public sphere Public participation Radical transparency Sociocracy Demarchy

[edit] External links

• Africa Project for Participatory Society
• Participatory democracy in Porto Alegre, Brazil - International Institute for Environment and Development
• The Citizen's Handbook
• Athens Project - Organization dedicated to promoting Participatory Democracy by helping direct access democracy candidates run for office — Independent organization.
• ParticipatoryDemocracy.net - Bilingual site (English & Spanish) sponsored by Participatory Democracia Cultural Initiative, Inc., an international non-for-profit association of volunteers devoted to the promotion of participatory democracy and human rights
• Citizens Assembly Blog — J.H. Snider's blog covering citizens assembly developments worldwide
• Conference: Participatory democracy: current situation and opportunities provided by the European Constitution
• EESC conference on participatory democracy
• Demosphere Project - The project to develop a community based e-democracy framework using open source and interactive software.
• E-participation and the future of democracy
• European Citizens' Panel on the roles of rural areas in tomorrow's Europe
• European Citizens' Initiative - Campaign for more participation rights for citizens of the European Union
• London Project for a Participatory Society - "An anti-racist, pro-feminist, anti-capitalist organization" in London, Ontario, Canada.
• Metagovernment - Open source governance project aimed at replacing all governments with scored wikis
• Participation through action research
• Stakeholders and participatory democracy related to the MDGs
• Voting methods resource page Includes a proposal for participatory democracy by means of a delegable proxy system.
• FAL - Forum de Autoridades Locales (Multilingual site) The World network of Local Authorities linked to promote Social Inclusion and Participatory Democracy
• Rete del Nuovo Municipio (Italian) The Italian project for promoting participatory democracy, linking up local authorities, scientists and local committees.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Shirky, Clay "Here Comes Everybody"
2. ^ Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society, edited by Simone Chambers and Will Kymlicka (Princeton University Press, 2002)
3. ^ The Idea of Civil Society, by Adam B. Seligman (Princeton University Press, 1992)