Abstract
This study analyses the public’s involvement in the search for a nuclear waste repository in Germany in terms of the process’s democratic quality and the institutional conditions of its success. It focuses on the initial phase of the search process, during which the “final storage committee” received input from various citizen participation forums. The study shows how institutional complexity, high normative standards, and well-designed coordination mechanisms can aid in moderating the classic weaknesses of participatory procedures—selectivity and lack of impact. Based on input-oriented democratic theory, participatory governance, deliberation, and negotiation studies in particular, the study questions the usefulness of random choice and discusses the targeted selection of affected groups as an alternative mode of participant selection. It also presents mechanisms of aggregation and transmission that can contribute to integrating societal voices and embedding them into the political process.
The article is published in German.
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Eva Krick
Demokratisierung durch Partizipation? Die Mehrebenenbeteiligung an der Endlagersuche in Deutschland
In: Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 2020
DOI: 10.1007/s11615-020-00287-7