Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making

The prevailing discourse in Deliberative Democracy tends to overlook the pivotal role of public administration in shaping and executing democratic innovations. This article addresses this gap by conceptualising how organisational structures guide public administrators' stances on participatory...

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Main Author: Christian Opitz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Westminster Press 2024-02-01
Series:Journal of Deliberative Democracy
Subjects:
Online Access:https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1457/
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author Christian Opitz
author_facet Christian Opitz
author_sort Christian Opitz
collection DOAJ
description The prevailing discourse in Deliberative Democracy tends to overlook the pivotal role of public administration in shaping and executing democratic innovations. This article addresses this gap by conceptualising how organisational structures guide public administrators' stances on participatory types of deliberative policy making. Drawing on organisational research, I argue that their attitudes are embedded within reflexive expectations framed by organisational structures. Encompassing programmes, communication channels, and personnel, these decision premises significantly shape the perspectives held by organisational members on democratic innovations. My theoretical argument is illustrated by how German diplomats understand novel participatory formats in national foreign and security policy given the organisational structures at the Auswärtiges Amt. Overall, this work encourages Deliberative Democracy on democratic innovations to engage more with organisational research - and vice versa.
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spelling doaj-art-4254277c67b04341bbacbfb38c3054f12025-08-20T02:51:18ZengUniversity of Westminster PressJournal of Deliberative Democracy2634-04882024-02-0120110.16997/jdd.1457Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy MakingChristian Opitz0Helmut Schmidt University/University of the Federal Armed Forces HamburgThe prevailing discourse in Deliberative Democracy tends to overlook the pivotal role of public administration in shaping and executing democratic innovations. This article addresses this gap by conceptualising how organisational structures guide public administrators' stances on participatory types of deliberative policy making. Drawing on organisational research, I argue that their attitudes are embedded within reflexive expectations framed by organisational structures. Encompassing programmes, communication channels, and personnel, these decision premises significantly shape the perspectives held by organisational members on democratic innovations. My theoretical argument is illustrated by how German diplomats understand novel participatory formats in national foreign and security policy given the organisational structures at the Auswärtiges Amt. Overall, this work encourages Deliberative Democracy on democratic innovations to engage more with organisational research - and vice versa.https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1457/democratic innovationspublic administrationattitudesAuswärtiges AmtGerman foreign and security policy
spellingShingle Christian Opitz
Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
Journal of Deliberative Democracy
democratic innovations
public administration
attitudes
Auswärtiges Amt
German foreign and security policy
title Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
title_full Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
title_fullStr Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
title_full_unstemmed Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
title_short Democratic Innovations Administered: The Organisational Embeddedness of Public Administrators’ Attitudes Towards Participatory Policy Making
title_sort democratic innovations administered the organisational embeddedness of public administrators attitudes towards participatory policy making
topic democratic innovations
public administration
attitudes
Auswärtiges Amt
German foreign and security policy
url https://delibdemjournal.org/article/id/1457/
work_keys_str_mv AT christianopitz democraticinnovationsadministeredtheorganisationalembeddednessofpublicadministratorsattitudestowardsparticipatorypolicymaking