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Participatory democracy

Encyclopedia : P : PA : PAR : Participatory democracy

Democracy
This series is part of
the Politics and the
Forms of government series
· [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ edit]
Participatory democracy is a process emphasizing the broad involvement of constituents in the direction and operation of political systems. While etymological roots imply that all governments deserving the name "democracy" would rely on the participation of their citizens (the Greek demos and kratos combine to suggest that "the people rule"), traditional representative democracies tend to limit citizen participation to voting, leaving the main work of governance to a professional political elite. Participatory democracy strives to create opportunities for all members of a political group to make meaningful contributions to decisionmaking, and seeks to broaden the range of people who have access to such opportunities.

Contents

Political variants

Its political variants include: Representative democracy is not generally considered participatory. Bioregional democracy often is, but that is not necessary to its definition. Grassroots democracy is an alternative term that has actually been used to imply almost any combination of the above.

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.

Panocracy 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.

Green view

Part of the Politics series on
Green politics

Green issues
Worldwide green parties (list): Global Greens · Africa · Americas · Asia-Pacific · Europe
Ideas in the
Global Greens Charter:
ecological wisdom
social justice
participatory democracy
nonviolence
sustainability
respect diversity
·  [ v]·[ d]·[ e] 
All theories of green politics include some variant of participatory methods. In these theories, of which the best known is the Four Pillars of the Green Party, making consultation on important decisions by those who will carry it out reduces the probability of a decision that seriously disadvantages one group (reducing social justice) or of violent resistance (breaking nonviolence). Expressing ecological wisdom in law, for instance, is not likely to be respected unless the persons who live near protected ecosystems help to carry out the decision on a daily basis. Efforts to redefine green politics to exclude the participatory and consensus decision making methods have historically failed. See David Scrymgeour and Jim Harris (politician) for examples of recent failures.

Workplace variants

Workplace democracy is an application of methods generally used in politics in the economic enterprise, including the election or hiring of management by workers. These methods are inherently participatory since the daily work is being carried out by the people who have made the decision, who bear its consequences.

See also

External links

 

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