ABSTRACT
In the previous chapters I have examined political philosophy and argued that increasing representation in democratic governance creates a de-spatialisation or dis-location of democracy. The aim of this chapter is to explore the practice of participatory democracy through research into the social forums and Occupy movement. Social forums are parallel participatory democratic assemblies that have risen up over the last decade throughout the world in response to neo-liberal globalisation. I ask whether the social forums form a model that can be established as a practised reality in global governance, and discuss how deliberative and radical models of participatory democracy, discussed in Chapter 2, form tensions within the social forum movement. The tensions are expressed in the debate within the World Social Forum as to whether it is a space or a movement. I have chosen the social forums rather than state initiatives to increase participation because of their autonomous nature. For example, Habermas advocates a double-track process, with ‘informal’ deliberation taking place outside institutions and then, as public opinion, influencing institutional deliberation. 1
