Democratic Innovations

Representative democracies face many challenges: there is dissatisfaction with democratic institutions and growing alienation of citizens from political processes; barriers to participation, in particular for marginalised groups, lead to gaps in representation and even political exclusion; perceived political efficacy is declining. New approaches to civic and democratic engagement, such as citizens‘ assemblies, participatory budgeting, community organising, e-petitions and other forms of digital engagement as well as electoral reform are meant to address these challenges and expand the options for democratic engagement. 

At d|part, we conduct empirical research on the challenges and barriers of democratic innovations and address concerns regarding their implementation. We evaluate the implementation of new approaches to democratic engagement and support civil society organisations and institutions of representative democracy in their efforts to establish more resilient, fairer, and more inclusive democratic processes.