Democratic Innovations in Dutch Local Government: Experimentation in Search of Strategy

Many attempts to innovate local democracy focus on enhancing dialogue and fostering collaboration between citizens, local politicians and local public servants. Their architects claim, as do many academics, that these innovations have positive effects on the quality of democratic governance. But what do they actually value when they do so? We distinguish three theoretical perspectives on the contribution of local democracy innovations: (1) a problem solving perspective: democratic innovation as a precondition for more effective public policy design and delivery; (2) a democratic quality perspe... Mehr ...