Democratic Innovations in Central and Eastern Europe – The Perspective of Policymakers and Civil Society Organisations

Political representation and democracy in several European countries have faced considerable challenges in recent decades. Especially worrying are the decline in electoral turnout and party membership, along with the decline in political trust and growing dissatisfaction with the functioning of representative democracy. These are all linked to the quality of democracy. Many scholars believe that a possible solution to such problems is democratic innovations, largely due to their participatory nature. Although in recent times democratic innovations have been put into practice, and analysed from multiple perspectives in multiple European countries, this has not happened with regard to Central and Eastern European countries. Based on face- to- face interviews conducted in 2024 with policymakers as well as representatives of civil society organisations in four Central and Eastern European countries, exploratory analysis reveals (different) views, rhetorical stances, sentiments and narratives concerning the meaning and importance of democratic innovations, including for maintaining/increasing political trust. The analysis points not only to differences among countries, but also between the groups of respondents.