The Majority Decides?
Blending Representative, Participatory and Direct Democracy at the Local Level Conference organised by CLP, Ghent University, CEVIPOL, Université Libre de
Bruxelles and the CERAPS, Lille 2 University For the Observatory on Local Autonomy (OLA)
26-27 April 2012, Ghent, Belgium
The Centre for Local Politics (Department of Political Science) of Ghent University, The Centre d’Étude de la Vie Politique (Department of Political Science) of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and the Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches Administratives, Politiques et Sociales (CERAPS) de l’Université Lille 2 are pleased to invite you to this conference organised for the Observatory on Local Autonomy (http://www.ola-europe.com). The conference will be held on 26 and 27 April 2012 in Ghent (Belgium).
Topic
Over the last few decades and in many European countries local government has witnessed the emergence of various forms of participatory and direct democracy as a supplement to its traditional representative underpinnings. Paralleling this development, the comparative literature has now mapped the frequency and use of a wide array of instruments such as referenda, participatory budgets, interactive decision-making or citizen juries to an increasingly fine-grained extent.
Less attention has been devoted to the effects of their actual use for those who are governed, those who govern and the policies resulting from their interaction. In particular the question of compatibility between participatory, direct and representational devices at the local level seems prevalent and will be the main topic of this conference.
Introducing participatory and direct democracy may break down the decision-making and executive monopoly of politicians and administrators. When consultation is the integrative device, the primacy of politics remains in taking final decisions. When coproduction and joint decision-making emerge or are supplemented by direct democracy, the distinction between governors and governed becomes less apparent, and roles could even be reversed. Often, politicians but also administrators feel proportionately uncomfortable. As the perceived legitimate representatives of all the people, they question how representative the individuals or organisations involved actually are and are often confronted with ‘dividing decisions’ such as those stemming from referenda with close margins. Many might stress that final decision- making and executing are anchored in the democratically elected and controlled institutions, i.e. themselves. These representational threats are of particular importance to local legislative bodies such as the council. Participatory and direct democracy elements then may not abolish representation but could seriously challenge the position of traditional local political institutions.
Also, the result of the transforming interaction between the governors and the governed may be affected. Including participatory and direct democracy devices can have effects on public policy. These might be diverse and not necessarily straightforward. Involving citizens may either increase the support base for a given policy direction or just instigate discord. It may also affect the somewhat tricky notion of policy quality. Does inclusiveness lead to the integration of new and valuable knowledge and experience unknown to mere representation?
Or does it delay decision-making or even limit its effectiveness to those domains where consensus is most easily found? What is the scope of decision-making open to participatory and direct democracy? Can it have a substantial bearing on essential policy-decisions or should it be considered as lip service to a highly valued ideal in mere peripheral domains and issues?
Last but not least is the question of blending. While participatory and direct democracy elements are to a different extent included in many local systems, most remain predominantly representational. This may create friction due to the divergent nature of the relationship systems existing between those who govern and those who are governed. In their contemporary appearance, the more participatory decision-making mechanisms are characterized by functional and personal specificity. Participatory or direct democratic devices are often connected with a very particular set of decisions and oriented towards one or more particular target groups. They are ad-hoc, directly aimed at those affected and mainly temporary. This may run counter to the logic of meditated aggregation that underpins the electoral cycle of representation and challenge especially the strategic coherence of policy.
What happens when the result of such devices arising from an intensively expressed and well- supported joint decision process satisfies all stakeholders in a given neighbourhood but completely contradicts the long-term strategy for local development?
The conference welcomes paper proposals that address one or more of the issues raised above with a particular focus on:
The attitudes and behaviour of representative actors such as local politicians, administrators, political parties or traditional civil society towards participatory and direct democracy;
The effect of participatory and direct democracy on local decision-making and public policy;
The compatibility of participatory and direct democratic devices with the representative electoral chain of command at the local level;
The characteristics of ‘participation-at-a-distance’ such as e-democracy and the comparison between debate in public meetings and on internet forums;
The political impetus of ordinary citizens and the mechanisms actually enrolling people to engage in political debate, including the existence of a potential participatory imperative or request coming from the people.
The conference prefers comparative and empirical papers but is open to other types of contributions such as country or case analyses.
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Application Schedule
1. Proposals will be sent as attachments (as pdf or doc files) and e-mailed to willie.minin@univ-lille2.fr. Deadline for submission is 15th October, 2011 2. Proposals will be selected and distributed among parallel workshops by the
Executive committee, November 2011
3. The final programme of the conference and selected papers will be announced in December 2011
4. The conference will be advertised from January 2012
5. Conference presentations (papers/powerpoints), in English or French, should be sent (to Mrs. Minin: e-mail see above) no later than 28 February 2012 6. Conference presentation summary (2000 characters maximum) must
be sent at the same date (28 February 2012) in French if your Conference presentation is written in English or in English if your Conference presentation is written in French
7. The Executive committee will make a selection of papers presented at the conference to be published in a book. This book will be published in English and French (based on original language of contribution). Upon selection, final chapters should be sent (to Mrs. Minin: e-mail see above) no later than 31 December 2012.
8. The publication of this book is due for July 2013.
Conference arrangements
The working languages of the conference are English and French;
Accepted paper givers will have to pay for their own travel arrangements. The conference organisers will pay for the hotel and conference meals (lunch, dinner and coffee break).
They will also cover the practical organisation of the conference (rooms, publicity and publications);
Any additional question may be forwarded to Mrs. Willie Minin: willie.minin@univ- lille2.fr
How to submit your proposal ?
The proposal should not be longer than 350 words (about 2000 characters).
You are requested to write your name, organisation, postal and email addresses according to the following form.
Proposed paper for the IId OLA European Conference on
The Majority Decides?
Blending Representative, Participatory and Direct Democracy at the Local Level 26-27 April 2012, Ghent, Belgium
Your references : Name :
First name :
University or Organisation : Email address:
Postal address:
Provisional title of your paper :
5 Key-words :
Abstract
- to be written in either French or English (ideally in both languages) - 2000 characters maximum (about 350 words)
