Democratic Decision Research Articles

The Role of Community Participation in Cross-Sector Social Partnerships

Communities, intended as self-organized informal groups, are much less structured than nonprofit organizations typically considered by Cross-Sector Social Partnership (CSSP) studies. Building on the empirical investigation of a real CSSP, this article offers an in-depth analysis of the ambivalent dynamics implied by partnership with such communities. Our findings indicate that the mechanisms that create room for innovative collaboration opportunities made available by these communities (such as co-innovation, pricing co-determination, co-financing, and democratic decision making) can also, over time, adversely affect the partnership and cause it to permanently lose its shared purpose. In our conclusion, we provide potential remedies for the latter scenario and discuss how they may enrich CSSP literature.

Distrusting democrats: A panel study into the effects of structurally low and declining political trust on citizens’ support for democratic reform

AbstractFor decades, scholars have argued that low and declining political trust affect citizens’ support for democratic and undemocratic reform. While some theorized that low political trust induces alienation and support for non‐democratic decision making, others argued that it pushes critical citizens to support reforms aimed to reinvigorate democracy. Yet, empirical tests of these expectations remained sparse and inconclusive. This paper employs panel data from the Netherlands (covering 3 waves in 3 years) to test these diverging theories simultaneously. We employ the random effects within‐between (REWB) model to differentiate between the effects of structurally low and declining political trust. Our results suggest that low and declining trust both diminish support for representative democracy, enhance support for direct democratic decision making and do not affect support for authoritarianism. These findings cast doubt on the understanding of political distrust as a determinant of political alienation. Rather, they support theories of critical citizenship and stealth democracy.

Introduction to Special issue

Introduction to Special issue

Narrative Counterspeech

The proliferation of conspiracy theories poses a significant threat to democratic decision-making. To counter this threat, many political theorists advocate countering conspiracy theories with ‘more speech’ (or ‘counterspeech’). Yet conspiracy theories are notoriously resistant to counterspeech. This article aims to conceptualise and defend a novel form of counterspeech – narrative counterspeech – that is singularly well-placed to overcome this resistance. My argument proceeds in three steps. First, I argue that conspiracy theories pose a special problem for counterspeech for three interconnected reasons relating to salience, emotion and internal coherence. Drawing on recent work in social epistemology, philosophy of emotion and cognitive science, I then demonstrate that narrative forms of counterspeech constitute an apt response to this diagnosis. Finally, I forestall two objections: the first questions the likely effectiveness of narrative counterspeech; the second insists that, even if it were effective, it would remain unacceptably manipulative. Neither objection, I contend, is ultimately compelling.

Digital Divide: An Inquiry on the Native Communities of Sabah

ICT development has become the development pulse of the global nation. Malaysia, as a developing nation, has invested heavily in ICT development across the country to ensure no one is left behind. The policymakers have also claimed a positive result in closing the digital gap among their people. In this study, Van Dijk’s theory of digital divide is explored on the four dimensions of digital divide (motivation, physical, skill, and usage) among the native people in Sabah. A focus group discussion (FGD) was conducted among 21 key informants from seven different ethnic groups to identify the issues of ICT development in their community. The findings showed that the existence of a digital gap between the rural and the urban area community caused the community to be saddled with the connection to telecommunication service, including landline and internet. Despite lacking, the native community were receptive and willing to adopt the ICT positively for their daily activities. While the theory of digital divide observes that the physical access divide is narrowing in most developed nations, this study shows that is not the case for developing countries, such as Malaysia. The inequality in digital access is prevalent among the natives in Sabah, which could result in the opportunity to participate in important democratic decision-making.

Information and deliberation in the Covid-19 crisis and in the climate crisis: how expertocratic practices undermine self-government and compliance

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, democracy’s promise to enable well-informed, responsible decisions gained almost unprecedented appeal. At this stage, many European governments mainly deferred to expert judgment. This is what some experts and activist groups occasionally call for in the case of an even more severe global crisis: the climate crisis. But where citizens are asked to more or less blindly follow the lead of expert judgments, politics takes what Lafont (Democracy without shortcuts: a participatory conception of deliberative democracy. Oxford University Press, Oxford, https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198848189.001.0001, 2020) calls an ‘expertocratic shortcut’. In the first part of this paper, we delineate the perceptions of threat that characterize these two cases and that can lead to expertocratic temptations. We point out that shortcuts to democratic decisions not only constitute dead ends, but can also be used to reinforce existing power structures. In the second part, we show how and why such shortcuts are sociologically likely to cause alienation and reactance, as accountability is lost and the rationale for decisions cannot be retraced. We conclude that if a democratic system is to live up to its promise of rationality, legitimate expert involvement has to meet three requirements: political mandate and control, transparency of uncertainty and expert disagreement, linkage to inclusive and effective citizen deliberation.

The Kantian case against democracy

ABSTRACT Contrary to what Cordelli argues, the relationship between Kantian legitimacy and democratic decision-making is contingent rather than necessary. This paper counters the connection between Kantian legitimacy and democracy in three ways: by arguing that democratic authorization is (i) not necessary, (ii) not sufficient, and indeed may be (iii) detrimental to, legitimate governance.

The institutional and political roots of complex policies: Evidence from the European Union

AbstractThe complexity of public policies has repeatedly been identified as a key challenge for modern democracies. Yet, we know only very little about the origins of this complexity. Controlling for functional and legal explanations, this article investigates whether complex policies have distinct institutional and political origins. The study builds on the assumption that complex policies are communicated in more complex language and uses textual data from 1771 legislative proposals issued by the European Commission since 1994 to demonstrate that the complexity of public policies is strongly tied to institutional and political costs of policy formulation. Collegial cabinets formulate more complex policies whenever they face more inclusive decision‐making processes and struggle with higher internal preference bias and heterogeneity. The implications of these findings reach far beyond the political system of the European Union and highlight that to a considerable degree, complex policies are the price of inclusive democratic decision making.

Design for Climate Change in the Neoliberal Present: Gentrification, Ecocide, and the Loss of Urbanity in New York City

Climate urbanism is an emerging field of action that aims to adapt to or mitigate the impacts of climate change on cities. These interventions are often framed by narratives of climate collapse, implying that there is not enough time to engage citizens in participatory planning processes. Some scholars have argued that this may also enable the realization of urban interventions that would otherwise be difficult to implement under ordinary circumstances. At the same time, research has demonstrated that mitigation and adaptation policies and projects may result in the displacement of vulnerable populations. To avoid this scenario, city governments must ensure vulnerability assessments, transparency, and accountability to all affected communities throughout the design process, and examination of projects proposed by residents and developed by the city authorities. Based on interviews, fieldwork observation, and secondary analysis of open-source documents, this article examines the complexity of appropriate urban climate planning through a comparative analysis. Taking the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) Project in New York as an exemplary case study, we analyze multiple perspectives, expertise, and rights involved in climate urbanism in global cities under the neoliberal present. We conclude that democratic city planning for climate change cannot be separated from questions of climate justice, which concerns democratic decision making and the impact of interventions on local communities and ecosystems.

How do civil society organizations influence climate change politics? Evidence from India, Indonesia, and Finland

ABSTRACT In this article, the efforts of civil society organizations to influence climate change policymaking in three countries with very different traditions of democratic decision making are compared: in a newly developed democracy (Indonesia), in an established democracy in the Global South (India), and in an established democracy in the Global North with an exceptionally strong civil society (Finland). The empirical material consists of 57 in-depth interviews with Civil Society Organization (CSO) representatives. The following three arguments about CSO influence in climate change politics are made: (1) the nation-state is an important avenue of influence for most CSOs, alongside global institutions; (2) CSOs influence states through specific contact points, rather than by challenging the state as a uniform entity; and (3) CSO actors’ perception of influence in climate politics may be stronger where state capacity is weaker, rather than where civil society itself is strong.

Here, there, or delaware? How corporate threats distort democracy

Concern for corporate influence on democratic decisions has mostly focused on campaign funding and access to legislators. While these are certainly worrisome, corporations have another tool to influence decisions, which they are increasingly using. They can threaten to move their operations or cancel expansion plans in a municipality unless its public officials pass (or kill) certain policies. In one sense, this is business as usual. Companies have the right to decide where to operate, and it is important for officials to consider how policy will impact local businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue. On the other hand, companies can use these threats to get their way on any policy, whether or not it impacts them. How do we tell when this kind of corporate action is illegitimate? We argue that such actions are illegitimate when they violate democratic norms of reason-giving, which occurs when companies offer the public “created” rather than “natural” reasons for their proposed policy.

Disentangling norms, morality, and principles: the September 2019 Brexit rebellion

Despite morality’s important role in international relations, we still lack a compelling way to study it. Some scholars define norms as moral in nature but fail to define morality or conceptualize it too narrowly. We address this problem by defining morality subjectively, allowing us to differentiate it from norms and study its impact on decisions of international significance. To do so, we adapt the moral convictions concept developed by psychologists to qualitative, elite-focused political research. Actors with moral convictions rely upon their individually held beliefs about fundamental right and wrong, whereas norm-followers look outward to community expectations. Morality requires sincere belief and weakens social influences. The September 2019 Brexit rebellion is an ideal case because it endangered rebels’ careers, rendering material self-interest an unlikely motive. This allows us to investigate the role of norms and moral principles. Based on interviews with British Members of Parliament (MPs) and text analysis, we find that community norms and personal moral principles interact: when existing norms give unclear guidance and identification with their in-group weakens, actors are likely to rely on their own principles to interpret norms. Morality can affect which norms matter but does not negate their influence altogether: pre-existing norms channel and constrain morality and its consequences. Many MPs moralized existing norms related to democratic decision-making, which mitigated some consequences of moralization, such as intolerance toward those with opposing views. This new conceptual and methodological approach thus helps to disentangle ideational factors and understand their influence on decisions of international significance.

User information processing mechanisms for news quality judgment conformity to professional standards: Comparing combinations of news content/formal cue processing

It is more difficult to judge news quality on digital news platforms because editorial cues (such as size and placement of news articles that signal the quality of articles in the traditional news environment) are far less obvious. Without these editorial cues, how do users process news cues to judge news quality in conformity to professional standards? Relying on dual information processing literature, this study investigates five combinations of news content/formal cue processing to identify user information processing mechanisms for news quality judgment conformity to professional standards. A total of 88 news articles were evaluated by 3547 survey respondents and two professional editors. Based on the partial-least-squares structural equation modeling, we found that the joint functioning of content/formal cue processing better explains news quality judgment conformity than other combinations (such as the independent functioning of each cue processing and the biased functioning of content cue processing affected by formal cue processing). The large, negative effect of joint functioning suggests that the less the respondents relied on formal cues, the greater they achieved news quality judgment conformity as they elaborated more on content cues. Elaboration on a given article’s believability/depth as a content cue and heuristics regarding its number of quotes as a formal cue had greater impact on judgment conformity. These results imply how the elaborative and heuristic routes of news processing interact and in what ways news cues can be processed to identify quality news which is necessary for democratic decision making.

혁신학교 교원의 학교 교육활동에 대한 참여의식 분석

This study was conducted to analyze the participation consciousness of innovative school teachers. Since innovative schools are model schools that try to improve schools by delegating authority to teachers to manage schools voluntarily, so the teachers' consciousness of participation is very important. 160 teachers from kindergartens, elementary schools, and middle schools that operated innovative school for more than four years in Chungcheongnam province responded to the survey questionnaire about consciousness of participation. As a result of the analysis, the need of innovative schools for school development was strongly recognized by responding with 4.28 points out of 5. 74.4% of respondents answered they voluntarily participate in the innovative schools, but 31.3% of teachers answered they participate passively. 67.5% answered that the reason for participating in innovative schools is because they provide students with various educational activities. For the development of innovative schools, teachers considered democratic decision-making important, and managers recognized that learning-oriented classes are important. Senior teachers had a higher percentage of responses that optimizing school work was important. Participants responded that since it is an innovative school, democratic consultation culture, school work optimization, professional learning community, and learning-oriented classes are possible. The innovative schools are an innovative movement in which teachers voluntarily participate in solving school problems. Most of the teachers of innovative schools agree with and actively participate in the innovative movement, but some teachers do not agree with this spirit and participate passively. In order to become a model for autonomous school-centered public education innovation pursued by innovative schools, efforts should be made to recognize and improve the problems of teachers who do not agree with innovative schools.

The Dynamics of Power and Micropolitics on Project Management

The empirically investigated problem of our paper is what impact do micropolitics and power have upon the conduct of project management in an organization? The informal power and micropolitics played a massive role in the projects, and personal and relational knowledge appeared in all projects to achieve the expected results. The project manager uses personal networks, personal relations, and mentor's network together with cognitive, affective, and emotional influence as power and politics if needed to achieve expected results. Power and micropolitics were necessary skills and tools for a successful project manager. The findings relate to the manager's intentions. The informal power and micro-politics process are reused in every project because informal power and micropolitics are a part of project work. Power accumulation and wise handling are essential leadership tools for every manager. Employees work for managers who have power over those who do not. The former can get them what they want: visibility, upwards mobility, and resources. Micropolitics and power represent a unique competence (i.e., knowledge, experiences, and attitudes) and tool for handling any project. A democratic and consensus-oriented decision process opens for power games and micropolitics rather than hedging them in more hierarchical organizations. A complex matrix organization involving employees in many projects is also open to micropolitics and power. Micropolitics and power might prolong and complicate decisions processes in ordinary projects and improve processes in fast-track projects. Micropolitics and power might thus both increase and reduce the effectiveness and efficiency of an organization.

Finding a fundamental principle of democratic inclusion: related, not affected or subjected

ABSTRACT The question of who should be included in democratic decision-making is known as the boundary problem in democratic theory. I identify two requirements that a satisfactory solution to the boundary problem must satisfy, i.e. the Considered Judgment Requirement and the Value Requirement. I argue that the two most prominent solutions to the boundary problem—the all-affected principle and the all-subjected principle—fail to satisfy these requirements. Instead, I propose an equal relations principle and show that it satisfies the requirements. It turns out that relatedness, and not affectedness or subjectedness, is what fundamentally explains who should be included.

Analytical Democratic Theory: A Microfoundational Approach

A prominent and publicly influential literature challenges the quality of democratic decision making, drawing on political science findings with specific claims about the ubiquity of cognitive bias to lament citizens’ incompetence. A competing literature in democratic theory defends the wisdom of crowds, drawing on a cluster of models in support of the capacity of ordinary citizens to produce correct outcomes. In this Letter, we draw on recent findings in psychology to demonstrate that the former literature is based on outdated and erroneous claims and that the latter is overly sanguine about the circumstances that yield reliable collective decision making. By contrast, “interactionist” scholarship shows how individual-level biases are not devastating for group problem solving, given appropriate conditions. This provides possible microfoundations for a broader research agenda similar to that implemented by Elinor Ostrom and her colleagues on common-good provision, investigating how different group structures are associated with both success and failure in democratic decision making. This agenda would have implications for both democratic theory and democratic practice.

Framing the Change and Changing Frames: Tensions in Participative Strategy Development

Participative strategy development serves to integrate the interests and perspectives of multiple stakeholders involved in today’s complex environmental challenges, aiming at a better-informed strategy for tackling these challenges, increased stakeholder ownership, and more democratic decision making. Prior research has however observed inherent tensions between the need of such participative strategy to be open to stakeholders’ input, and the need for closure and guidance. Drawing on case study evidence, we extend this reasoning and argue that tensions can emerge between strategy openness and several unintended consequences - the persistence of different interpretations of the strategy as well as stakeholders’ perceptions of lacking knowledge, guidance, and control. These tensions are important because they affect stakeholders’ willingness and ability for change and therefore counteract the strategy’s aim for major change. We propose how multi-stakeholder workshops, as interactive spaces, have a key function in mitigating the tensions inherent in strategy openness and in facilitating stakeholders’ willingness and ability for change.

Discursive Integrity and the Principles of Responsible Public Debate

This paper articulates a general distinction between two important communicative ideals—expressive sincerity and discursive integrity—and then uses it to analyze problems with political debate in contemporary democracies. In the context of philosophical discussions of different forms of trustworthiness and debates about deliberative democracy, self-knowledge, and moral testimony, the paper develops three arguments for the conclusion that, although expressive sincerity is valuable, we should not ignore discursive integrity in thinking about how to address problems with contemporary political debate. The paper concludes with a brief discussion of a strategy for improving discursive integrity within public political debate by reflecting on which principles of responsible public debate would promote better democratic decision making.

A social science perspective on conflicts in the energy transition: An introduction to the special issue

The energy transition is essential to European climate protection policies that aim to establish climate neutrality by the middle of the century. However, it has become evident that several challenges impede policy implementation, especially at the regional level. In this special issue, institutionalization, mobilization, and collaboration are identified as essential formative elements in shaping structures and processes of the energy transition. They have in common the point of view that most problems can be found in democratic decision-making, with conflicts of interest across established and emerging power structures.This introductory article presents a research framework to explore the energy transition, highlighting recurrent challenges. The presentation of an ideal policy cycle and a brief review of key points from the articles in the special issue allows us to form preliminary conclusions about policy implications. Chief among these is the recognition that divergent research perspectives are needed to understand the energy transition. Therefore, we advocate integrating classical policy analysis with research into participatory processes, democratization, and justice. In addition, we need new strategies and governance approaches to meet the challenges of transitioning to carbon-neutral practices in a democratic society.