IDM Democracy Talks – Session I: Participation & Representation

In the course of the Jean Monnet project “From Fictional to Functioning Democracy. Developing Concepts and Strategies for an Inclusive and Participatory Europe (FIFUDEM)“, with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union, the Institute for the Danube Region and Central Europe (IDM) has launched a new series, the “IDM Democracy Talks“, that is addressing current democratic developments within and outside the European Union.

In this first edition of IDM Democracy Talks “Participation & Representation” we are discussing participation and representation as two fundamental elements and principles of democracy. Democracy requires citizens’ participation for its functionality and legitimacy just as citizens must be appropriately represented by elected decision-makers and their policies.

However, various factors such as migration, political apathy, or immanent system critique regarding nepotism and state capture have led to the fact that existing governments do not entirely represent the local population of a city or country.

Questions that arise are therefore to what extent have democratic participation and representation changed in the last 20 years? What has to be done to guarantee participation and representation, or to make non-voting voices heard? What can be expected for the future regarding liberal democracy in Austria, Montenegro, and Serbia? What has to be done to strengthen participation and representation and, finally, the European inclusiveness?

Guests of this panel discussion, chaired by Silvia Nadjivan (IDM), are :

Snezana ĐAPIĆ, Project Manager, Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI), Belgrade

Dr. Monika MOKRE, Head of Research at the Austrian Academy of Science, Vienna

Marko PEJOVIĆ, Programme Manager, Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CEDEM), Podgorica