UC EVENTS

This event is hybrid. Join us on Zoom or at Building 24, University of Canberra.

Unpacking power in democratic innovations: A systematic review of how power is shared in Australian local governments

My work-in-progress seminar aims to theorise and conceptualise deliberative power-sharing in democratic innovations in Australian local governments. I also aim to advance the current theoretical constructions of the sharing of power and how these can be operationalised in this context. For over 20 years, Australian local governments have trialled democratic innovations to increase trust and legitimacy in political decisions. These experiments, however, receive various criticisms from scholars and practitioners in the field of deliberative democracy. Some criticise them for lacking binding decision-making power, while others question the feasibility of persuading politicians to share their power with community members.

In this seminar presentation, I argue that we need a nuanced understanding of how Australian local governments share power with community members through democratic innovations. I build this argument in two parts. First, I make the case of understanding power by combining Rainer Forst’s concept of noumenal power and Mary Parker Follett’s concept of power-with. Second, I present the findings of my systematic review of how power is shared in democratic innovations in 34 Australian local governments catalogued in the Participedia database. In this review, I found that there are four ways of sharing power between Australian local governments and community members: (1) Deliberative power-sharing, (2) the sharing of power with deliberation, (3) power-sharing with deliberative elements, and (4) deliberation with limited to no sharing of power. I conclude my presentation by charting the next phases of my dissertation and introducing preliminary reflections on how these research findings speak to my ongoing fieldwork.

This seminar will be chaired by Nicole Curato.

Discussants: Dr Nivek Thompson, Associate, Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global Governance and Kyle Redman, newDemocracy Foundation