This is an original look at the political future of democracy, exploring the latest ideas aimed at renewing popular power. Leading European, American and Australian democratic theorists explore a range of contemporary themes.

Introduction Democratic Innovation Michael Saward Part I: Deliberative Democracy: Advocacy and Critique 1. The quest for deliberative democracy James S. Fishkin and Robert C. Luskin 2. Toward deliberative institutions Graham Smith 3. Deliberation as public use of reason - or, what public? Whose reason? Tiina Rättilä 4. The EU's democratic deficit: a deliberative perspective Erik O Eriksen 5. Less than meets the eye: democratic legitimacy and deliberative theory Michael Saward 6. Discursive democracy vs. liberal constitutionalism John S. Dryzek Part II: Interest, Deliberation and the Rethinking of Representation 7. Group represenation, deliberation, and the displacement of dichotomies Judith Squires 8. From theory to practice and back again: gender quota and the politics of presence in Belgium Petra Meier 9. Deliberative democracy, ecological representation and risk: towards a democracy of the affected Robin Eckersley 10. Ecological constitutionalism and the limits of deliberation and representation Mike Mills and Fraser King 11. Governance, self-representation and democratic imagination Henrik Paul Bang and Torben Bech Dyrberg Part III: Associations and Democracy 12. Active citizenship and associative democracy Piotr Perczynski 13. Associative democracy - fashionable slogan or constructive innovation? Sigrid Roßteutscher 14. Social capital, associations and civic republicanism Francisco Herreros 15. Deliberative democracy versus direct democracy - plus political parties! Ian Budge Conclusion Variation, innovation and democratic renewal Michael Saward