What other mechanisms (aside from voting for elected officials) are available for the citizens to participate in governance?
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Explanation:
As someone working on deliberative democracy and its practices, I think we should not exaggerate electoral accountability. Of course it is better than nothing however it is not an effective way of ensuring a democratic system. At the end of the day, we are talking about a power that can be used every 4 or 5 years. Such power is simply not powerful. The lack of citizen power in politics is a systemic issue. Unless the ideas and perspectives of citizens are transmitted to the political arena, we cannot talk about the power of people.
Education is crucially important. With better education people's voting preferences might have better bases. However, this does not make the system any more democratic than it is now unless people have more chances of effecting the policy making. This needs a better systemic environment than electoral politics. Here, I think deliberative and participatory models offer great ways of political decision-making.
When WGI and ADB indicators of governance talk about good governance, they lay considerable emphasis on Transparency and Accountability. Both these are not attainable unless citizens participate in governance process. In large democracies, direct participation of citizens in the governance process poses a big challenge on account of large populations, even in small pockets. Illiteracy, political naivety, and insufficient mechanisms to incorporate citizen participation pose further challenges. In such a context, how do we enhance citizen participation in governance? What legislative, executive and judicial mechanisms should we adopt?
Explanation:
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