The Principles of Open Democracy

Abstract

This chapter builds on the previous chapters to sketch the alternative paradigm of “open democracy.” It first draws on a stylized contrast between Classical Athens and modern representative democracy. The chapter then theorizes a new model of democracy — open democracy — which layers new principles on top of the most normatively appealing ones found in the previous models, expanding the scope of some principles and occasionally replacing or reformulating others entirely. It goes on to offer a list of five core institutional principles. These include participation rights, deliberation, the majoritarian principle, democratic representation, and transparency. These principles are supposed to inform institutional design without over-determining it.