Paula Castello, Training and Participation Department Chief, Defender of the Public of Audiovisual Communication Services,Argentina addresses Lab 5.Council of Europe/Klara Beck, November 9, 2017. All rights reserve.The august panel had spoken. With just ten minutes of 90 remaining in the session, the chair opened the floor to discussion and a forest of hands went up. The theme? Participatory democracy.
It would be easy to be cynical about this ‘Lab 5’ session of the World Forum for Democracy – and any discussion of democracy tends to attract more than its fair share of knowing cynics. But that would be a cheap shot.
There are no simple answers to how democracy is best extended beyond the representative arena into the wider public sphere – and, if it is, what the relationship between the representative and the participative should be. Max Weber’s definition of democracy, nearly a century ago, as the election of politicians who then tell their voters ‘Now shut up and obey me’ clearly will not do for an era of an educated citizenry no longer deferring to established élites. But genuine questions arise, in particular as to the legitimacy of participatory democracy, which need to be addressed. And that does entail listening to individuals who have expertise or experience to help shape thinking on that.
