Agora: A space for ideas & debate

Share your thoughts on current events

Agora is a new forum for PDD members to comment on current affairs and explore the relevance of democratic theory to help us understand and navigate a very complex world. Email us your ideas for posts (700-900 words) or short videos (3-5 mins) at psademocracy@deliberativehub.

Special Series

Participatory Governance: Where are we at? – Sonia Bussu

Introductory post: Reclaiming participatory governance: social movements and the reinvention of democratic innovations – Adrian Bua, Sonia Bussu et al.

From democracy-driven governance to techno-populism. The case of Ahora Madrid, Spain – Fabiola Mota and Cristina Herranz

What’s the point of participating? Markus Holdo

Whose and what right to the city? Participation in Lisbon – Roberto Falanga



Why listen to activists’ frustration – Patricia García-Espín

Democracy-Driven Governance and Decommodification – Nick Vlahos

Expanding participatory governance through digital platforms – Joan Balcells, Rosa Borge and Albert Padró-Solanet

Democracy-Driven Governance for Climate Transition – Paola Pierri

Afrofuturism and knowledge production in participatory and deliberative spaces – Dayo Eseonu

Democratic Deliberation Could Curb Political Short-Termism: Evidence From the Japanese Online Deliberative Poll –Masakazu Ogami and Masaki Shibutani

Cooperative Collegial Democracy: An African Alternative to Western Liberal Democracy – Emefiena Ezeani

Some rough, pessimistic thoughts on the political economy problem of climate assemblies – Rikki Dean

In Kenya as Elsewhere in Africa, the Real Tribes are the Political Parties – Reginald M.J. Oduor

Backstage democracy of youth climate activism: A short note on ethnography with “Fridays For Future” in Kyoto, Japan – Kei Nishiyama

Decolonising Democratic Innovations: Beyond the White and Western Gaze – Shana Almeida, Sonia Bussu, Dannica Fleuss, Jean-Paul Gagnon and Reginald M.J. Oduor

Locking Down Democracy: The Banning of By-elections in Zimbabwe in the COVID-19 Era – Gift Mwonzora

What contribution could Buddhist philosophy offer to theories of democracy? – Ryusaku Yamada

“Maroon Democracy” and Le Morne Brabant – Jean-Paul Gagnon

“Away with Bolsonaro!” How Feminist Movements Confront Bolsonarism – Gabriela Maria Farias Falcão de Almeida

A return to autocratization? COVID-19 lockdowns and the shrinking space for citizen action in Zimbabwe – Daniel Mususa

Participation with Chinese Characteristics: WeChat Participatory Budgeting in Chengdu – Su Yun Woo

The anti-Bolsonaro protests in Brazil: Innovation and tradition in the repertoire of contention under Covid-19 – Ricardo F. Mendonça

Investing in the commons? Gamestop and loosely coordinated action within a rigged financial system – Nick Vlahos

Recipes for democratic participation during the pandemic: From anti-lockdown protest to a participatory system – Lucy Parry, Hans Asenbaum and Selen Ercan

Public dissatisfaction, protest and narrow opportunity structures in Russia – Anatoly Reshetnikov and Tobias Spöri

Can participatory impeachment defend democracy? – Rikki Dean

Some things are not up for debate: Truth, falsehood and the limits of deliberative democracy – Rode Dacombe

Follow Me

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.