Practices of Democracy: An Introduction

Three innovative models of governance – direct democracy, deliberative democracy and technocracy – have emerged to complement our traditional representative model of democratic politics. The result is profound; reshaping how citizens interact with and influence their governments. 

Practices of Democracy: An Introduction is the first comparative politics textbook to offer an engaging introduction to these different forms of democracy. With an in-depth yet accessible exploration of four models of democracy – representative, direct, deliberative and technocratic models of government – this book shows how democracy can be strengthened and saved in times of crisis. 

Packed with case studies and features, this textbook is essential reading for anyone studying democracies, democratic innovations and Comparative Politics, whether at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. 

Sergiu Gherghina is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Glasgow, UK.
Jean-Benoit Pilet is Professor of Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium.
Jane Suiter is Professor of Political Communication in the School of Communications at Dublin City University, Ireland.

Sergiu Gherghina is Professor of Comparative Politics at Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Glasgow, UK. His research interests lie in party politics, political participation, democratization and democratic innovations. He advises on several participatory budgeting practices in new democracies. He is the book series editor on democratic innovations for Routledge (since 2021). He published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals including American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Comparative Politics, Electoral Studies, European Political Science Review, International Political Science Review, Party Politics, Political Studies or West European Politics.

Jean-Benoit Pilet is Professor of political science at the Université libre de Bruxelles and member of the CEVIPOL. He has been working on three main topics. The first is elections and electoral systems, with a specific focus on the personalization of electoral systems and on electoral reforms. The second is the transformation of representative democracy, especially looking at the growing impact of direct democracy, deliberative democracy, and technocracy. The third is the role in elected politicians in democracies, and the way they try to connect with citizens. His work has been recently published in some of the top journals in political science, like the American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, the European Journal of Political Research, Political Behavior or the British Journal of Political Science.

Jane Suiter is Professor of Political Communication in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and director of DCU′s Institute for Future Media, Democracy and Society. Her research focus is on the information environment in the public sphere and in particular on scaling up deliberation and tackling disinformation. She has been involved in various research and oversight capacities on the Irish Citizens′ Assembly (2012-2022). She was the joint winner of the Brown Democracy Medal in 2019. She published in international peer-reviewed journals including Electoral Studies, International Political Science Review, Political Communication, Political Studies Review, Representation or Science.