Participation in institutions: conceptualizing experiments with participatory and deliberative democracy

Deliberative and participatory forms in public decision making have been experimented with in various contexts and, especially, much discussed as possible bridging arenas between institutions and the citizens. In this article the author, referring to existing studies, develops a conceptualization of the different dimensions along which to assess the quality of experiments with deliberative and participatory democracy. The degree of inclusiveness, the quality of the discourse, and the decisional power devolved to these emerging institutions (empowerment) varies in fact significantly in the different forms (juries, assemblies, participatory budgeting) they take. Looking at potential explanations for the qualities (and the limits) of these democratic experiments, attention has been focused especially on two dimensions: the various institutional designs and the different promoters of these experiments. In fact, two different typologies seem to emerge according to the origin of the process, either from above, promoted by institutions or from below, promoted by social movement organizations.

Keywords: Social Movements; Participation; Deliberative Democracy; Empowerment; Decision Making.

Porta Donatella della, La partecipazione nelle istituzioni: concettualizzare gli esperimenti di democrazia deliberativa e partecipativa in "PARTECIPAZIONE E CONFLITTO" 0/2008, pp , DOI: