Democracy Today.indb - Universidade do Minho

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DEMOCRACY TODAY
effect (Hüller 2010). At least some degree of decision-making ability
would significantly improve these experiments and enhance people’s
willingness to participate (Münkler/Wassermann 2008: 18).
• Accountability: The last factor reveals the iterative character of the three
elements: if equality among participants is not guaranteed, the process
is not democratic and therefore need no longer be considered. If there
is equality but no decision-making ability, the question about accountability
remains irrelevant, since there is nothing to account for. As has
been pointed out, most deliberative forums do not go so far as to attempt
direct influence on real policy decisions and thus there is no record of
accountability that could be judged. However, it can be asserted that
their widespread design as a one-shot affair would have to be extended if
the participants were to be held responsible for their decisions (cf. Fung
2003: 354f. for the case of deliberative polling). Similarly, the absence of
impact had to be acknowledged regarding online communities. Yet, in
principle, there are no obstacles for internet-based approaches to provide
accountability, but this can only happen under the conditions that
credible rules are established to secure privacy protection and if users
are willing to give up their anonymity. It must therefore be concluded
that “the internet will not be a tool for democracy unless its users choose
to use it that way” (Ackerly 2006: 136, original emphasis).
Alongside these far from ideal examples, there exist more promising
experiments. Maybe the most successful and prominent is participatory
budgeting in Porto Alegre, where citizens are allowed to decide
on the spending of a fixed part of the city budget within an institutional
design that combines direct and representative elements (for an overview
see Fung 2003: 360-362, Smith 2009: 33-39). An analysis taking
into consideration the three elements of the public realm shows that
they are all present, at least to some degree: Equality is provided in
that popular assemblies are open to every citizen and terms in offices
and councils are strictly limited. Furthermore, a cleverly-designed
mechanism seeks to equalise demands over districts with regard to
the number of participants in each neighbourhood. [12] Decision-making
12
Following Baiocchi, Fung (2003: 361, note 51) describes the mechanism – by which one
is immediately reminded of the Greeks’ efforts to secure equal participation – as follows: