Participatory democracy - Definition and Overview

Participatory democracy is a broadly inclusive term for many kinds of consultative decision making in a democracy. Its variants include:

• Anticipatory democracy
• Consensus democracy
• Deliberative democracy
• Direct democracy
• Non-partisan democracy
• Direct Access Democracy

Representative democracy is not generally considered participatory. Bioregional democracy often is, but that is not necessary to its definition. Grassroots democracy is an alternative term that has actually been used to imply almost any combination of the above.

See also

• List of democracy and elections-related topics
• E-democracy
• Internet democracy

External links

• Beyond Plutocracy (http://www.beyondplutocracy.com) -- free online book, "Beyond Plutocracy: True Democracy for America" by Roger Rothenberger.
• Conference: Participatory democracy: current situation and opportunities provided by the European Constitution (http://www.esc.eu.int/pages/en/acs/events/08_03_04_democracy/home_en.htm)
• EESC conference on Participatory democracy (http://www.solidar.org/Document.asp?DocID=4821&tod=62618)
• Direct Access Democracy the superimposition of direct democracy elements onto the representative system (http://www.etches.net)
• Voting methods resource page (http://fc.antioch.edu/~james_green-armytage/voting.htm) Includes a proposal for participatory democracy by means of a delegable proxy system.

Example Usage of Participatory