Revitalizing democracy through participatory democratic innovations
ACT.WB Jean Monnet Network Final Conference
Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

Speakers:
Giovanni Allegreti, Centre for Social Studies, Coimbra University
Roger Berkowitz, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, Bard College
Thamy Pogrebinschi, WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Florian Bieber, Centre for Southeast European Studies, University of Graz
Stefania Ravazzi, Department of Cultures, Politics and Society, University of Turin
Irena Fiket, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

A worrying trend of autocratization that has been spreading globally in recent years brought forward the newest wave of appeals for participatory and deliberative democracy as a remedy for the crisis. Besides, challenging the liberal conception of democracy from the perspective of participation beyond voting has become the backbone of the rising tension between traditional liberal understanding of democracy and the wave of more participatory and deliberative democratic thinking.

On the one hand, social movements continue to engage in participatory democratic innovations in their internal organization, and they spread these ideas within institutions. As self-reflexive actors, they experiment with new ideas of democracy that can become the basis for proposed changes in democratic governance, especially relevant in autocratized societies. They not only transform states through struggles for policy change, but also express a fundamental critique of conventional politics.

On the other hand, the growing lack of interest of the European societies’ citizens in participating in political life through traditional instruments of representative democracy has caused a renewed concern of the EU and its member states for the promotion and encouragement of active citizenship. This has resulted in a process of democratic engineering inspired by the principles of the participatory and deliberative conceptions of democracy. Democratic experimentation along these lines, which can be observed in many EU countries, gave rise to the promotion and institutionalization of democratic innovations (public debates, neighborhood councils, citizens’ juries, participatory budgets, etc.). We are currently also witnesses of the EU institutions’ initiative to “reinvigorate democracy” at the EU level through participatory innovations organized within The Conference on the Future of Europe, launched in 2021 in Strasbourg.

The pace and scope of these developments call for a deeper understanding of internal dynamics of both, bottom up and top down democratic experimentation, their social and political impact, both as single case studies, and as parts of a greater cycle of social movement mobilizations and institutional experimentation in the WB region and in Europe.

Against this background, this Conference aims to strengthen a dialogue between conceptual perspectives, approaches and fields around deliberative and participatory forms of democratic innovations.

Conference Program Board
Irena Fiket, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade, chair
Thamy Pogrebinschi, WZB Berlin Social Science Center
Roger Berkowitz, Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities, Bard College
Florian Bieber, Center for South East Europe, University of Graz
Stefania Ravazzi, University of Turin
Nenad Markovikj, the Law Faculty “Justinian I”, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje
Valida Repovac Nikšić, the Faculty of Political Science, University of Sarajevo
Marko Savković, the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence
Gazela Pudar Draško, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade
Čedomir Markov, Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory, University of Belgrade

Organization of the conference

The conference is organized by the Laboratory for Active Citizenship of the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory in Belgrade. The conference is organized in the framework of the Jean Monnet Network project „Active Citizenship in the Western Balkans Promoting and Advancing Innovative Democratic Practices in the Western Balkans“, and cofunded by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

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