ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses established practices applied in today’s democracies and asks how they contribute to realizing self-governing. It sheds light on the theoretical expectations attached to each practice and takes stock of empirical findings, which sometimes contradict or nuance theoretical expectations. It illustrates that practices contribute in different ways; they all provide potential benefits but also have limitations. It demonstrates that no practice alone can guarantee self-governing. Each practice is useful for realizing some aspects, but none can realize all. Each practice has shortcomings. Each must be balanced and complemented. Practices performed in isolation do not suffice in today’s multilevel, large-scale, complex societies. The chapter concludes that novel practices as well as new combinations are required to achieve self-governing in better ways than today.
