Civic and political participation, in its many forms, is the cornerstone of democracy. In the scientific debate, the concept of Democratic Innovation refers to the potential of new forms of participation beyond the electoral vote to reinvigorate democracy in a particularly challenging historical period. Participatory practices that adopt diversified approaches with a view to greater citizen involvement in public policies are generally referred to as democratic innovations.
Growing dissatisfaction with the functioning of democratic institutions and distrust of elected representatives in Portugal has led to a questioning of the potential of DIs today. However, for a more rigorous analysis of this potential, it is essential to build an ‘archaeology’ of DIs in the country, taking into account the different forms of civic and political participation developed since the establishment of the democratic regime in 1974.
The aim of this project is to help achieve this goal by identifying and characterising the democratic innovations documented in Portugal over the last 50 years.

The project team is made up of members of the ICS and ISCTE-IUL under the coordination of Roberto Falanga and is assisted by an advisory group made up of national experts.

• ICS team: Roberto Falanga, João Moniz, José Ribeiro, Kadir Çoban
• ISCTE-IUL team: José Santana Pereira, Filipe Casimiro, Laura Pomesano
• Advisory group: João Ferrão (ICS-ULisboa), Filipe Teles (University of Aveiro), André Carmo (University of Évora)