Rethinking Democratic Innovation - Cultural Clashes and the Reform of Democracy

Rethinking Democratic Innovation takes a fresh look at diverging visions of improving democratic governance and asks whether these existing tensions could be made productive. Could different visions of democratic revitalisation complement and correct each other in ways that are good for democracy? Is it conceivable that combined approaches address a larger part of the democratic challenge, while isolated approaches, centralizing deliberative or plebiscitary democracy, are confined to more limited areas of concern? This book ultimately provides an affirmative answer, outlining the scope for hybrid democratic innovations that thrive on exploiting, not eliminating, tensions between diverging visions of improved democracy. Supplementing democratic theory with a cultural perspective, this book contributes to a deeper understanding of plans and methods geared toward improving democratic governance. Revisiting Mary Douglas''s seminal take on culture as pollution reduction, processes of democr