Why Might Elected Political Elites Reach for Democratic Innovations?

• In Event: Reinvigorating Democratic Legitimacy Through Democratic Innovation and Protest

Abstract

Increasing global interdependencies are driving democratic deficits in consolidated electoral democracies. By themselves, elections are no longer sufficient to provide the democratic legitimacy necessary for democratic governance. These trends are creating opportunities for populist candidates claiming to represent the “will of the people.” Thankfully, the future of representative democracy is not inevitably one of demagoguery and democratic decline—democratic innovations can effectively supplement legacy institutions of representative democracy so that they function more democratically. However, elected officials rarely reach for democratic innovations. While we have a general understanding of the causes and consequences of democratic deficits, we have not systemically theorized when, where, and why political elites, particularly elected ones, might adopt democratic innovations. In this paper, we develop a theoretical framework for clarifying how democratic innovations can be integrated into systems of representative democracy to address democratic deficits, and offer examples drawn from the Participedia database. We offer suggestions for capitalizing on electoral incentives that motivate politicians to enhance the democratic capacities of representative democracy through democratic innovation.

Authors

• Mark E. Warren, University of British Columbia

• Edana Beauvais, Simon Fraser University

• Sule Yaylaci, University of Pennsylvania