Participative and Deliberative Democracy on the Local Level: How the Political Characteristics of Municipalities in the Czech Republic Relate to the Use of Selected Democratic Innovation within their Territory?

Abstract

Little current studies of democratic innovations have considered whether there is any connection between the political characteristics of a municipality and the higher degree of use of participative and deliberative tools within their territory. This article aims at contributing to the discussion by testing selected political indicators in the municipalities in relation to the utilisation rate of innovative tools. By using the case study of local territory within the Czech Republic during the election period of 2014–2018, the article uses unique data from the municipalities with extended powers to track common features of participative municipalities, e-municipalities, and transparent municipalities, and reveals the substantial positive effects of intergenerational renewal in the representative bodies and strong financial capital. Paper contributes to the discourse on democratic innovations by focusing on unexplored area, thanks to which participative and deliberative tools could become a normal part of the decision-making process on a local level.